The assassin and the Princess
by blackcatismeow
Summary: The Princess of Orb had a new bodyguard, and they seemed to get along well. But then things turned out another way, who the bodyguard really was? What was he up to? Pairings: AxC mainly, YxS, DxM, SxS, KxL noticable
1. New mission

A/N: Hello, this is a brand new fic of mine, about AxC, too. Hope that I can receive your reviews soon, now please enjoy it. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

öööö

He was all alone in the space, floating aimlessly. There were no stars, no suns, no planets or anything else. The thick darkness was surrounding him and he felt scared. However, he couldn't speak, every time he opened his mouth to say something even to himself, no words came out, it was as if he was mute. Then suddenly, there were some thin lights appearing in front of his tired eyes. He tried to reach the lights, but when he came near; it became lighter and seemed to went far away. He tried his best, but couldn't reach the lights, he was in total darkness. Tears were falling down his face and his mouth wide opened.

"Hey Athrun, hey Athrun…" Someone was calling him, but the voice seemed to be far far away, it couldn't reach him. He was in the darkness by himself and when he heard the voice, he turned around, but found no one.

"**Zala wake up will you?" **Someone else yelled in his ear and kicked him out of his bed. **Bumb!** He was on the floor, still had his blanket on. He opened his eyes immediately when he suddenly felt the pain on his dear head and was saved from his horrible dream.

"Oww…" He frowned, rubbing his sore head. The one who was successful in waking him up was smirking at him and said:

"Up now, you have been screaming from about 4:00 until now. Really you didn't let any of us sleep, you know." A silver haired boy with icy eyes said and then went back to his bed, climbed in and lay down, went back to his peaceful sleep. Athrun looked at him and touched his back; it was all wet with his sweat.

"Uhm… Are you okay?" A green haired boy asked him with concerning eyes. Well, he was the nicest guy of his so-called friends.

"Ah yeah, I'm fine." Athrun replied smiling weakly and slowly stood up, put his blanket back on the bed and went to the bathroom. After doing some washes up, he went out and was informed by the green haired:

"Ah, the Emperor's advisor has just called you to his room. I wonder what's up."

"Don't worry Nicol, I will be back soon. Wait for me a little, we'll have breakfast together." Athrun smiled at his friend and quickly put on his uniform, then he left for the advisor's room.

Later at the Emperor's advisor's room…

"You're late." A masked man with blonde hair welcomed Athrun with a small smile, the smile that anyone who sees it for the first time would shudder.

"You call me sir?" Athrun asked with a cold tone, he really didn't like this guy.

"Yes, I have a new mission for you." The blonde said and pulled out a picture. "You must know who this one is, right?"

"Lord Uzumi." Athrun said, trying to stay calm, but the picture really made him hesitated. The masked man only nodded. "My new target?" Athrun asked with a little shock.

"Yes, you somehow have to deal with him in one month, by then, we will have prepared too." The blonde replied and handed Athrun the picture.

"But why?" He let out a question, "The emperor wants to…?"

"That's right, so just be prepared, you will be off tomorrow."

"Sir." Athrun replied, and then he bowed at the advisor and went out. He was still shocked at his new mission, but he somehow managed to act calm. His green haired friend had already been waiting for him outside the room.

"So?" He asked with a little smile across his face.

"Ah, I'll have to be off tomorrow on mission." Athrun replied sighing. The green haired only nodded, because he knew the details of the mission would have to be kept secret. They walked side by side to the canteen for their group and had breakfast together, tried no to mention the mission Athrun just got.

"What are you doing today?" Nicol asked cheerfully.

"I don't know, err… maybe I'll visit my mother." Athrun answered not looking at his friend. "How about you?"

"Me? Oh well, maybe I will just hang out with Yzak and Dearka. So, it's 7:00 now. You'd better get going. This afternoon you will have to pack you things and get ready for the trip, right?"

"Yeah, then see you." Athrun smiled and ran off. On his way out, he told a servant to have his horse ready while Nicol returned to the dorm and woke his two friends up.

"Wake up already you guys, it's late." He called softly and pulled Dearka from his bed.

"What time is it?" He asked with a sleepy voice and tried to break free from his friend.

"7:05. Wake up." Nicol continued to call and shook his friend slightly.

"Oww, still early. Let me sleep some more… Last night I couldn't sleep well thanks to you precious Athrun…" The blonde whined and rolled, slipping his head into his warm blanket.

"Sheesh…" The green haired sighed and went to Yzak's bed. "Wake up Yzak." He called, but the slivered haired just ignored him and put his pillow on his head.

"Nicol, if you want to live a little longer, don't bother me…" He warned sleepily and grunted in his throat.

"Geez… You two… Then… Maybe I will just go to the music room and practice some piano…" He sighed defeated and left.

öööö

At one peaceful churchyard in PLANTS…

"Mother, see you. I will be off tomorrow and maybe I won't be able to see you in a long time." Athrun whispered and put some fragrant flowers on a graveside. Then he sat down next to the grave and stared blankly at the blue sky, recalled every moment between him and his mother, especially his mother's death.

_Flashback in Athrun's point view…_

_We were having our afternoon tea when all of a sudden, someone burst into our garden and captured us. I fought hard, but they put a knife on mother's neck and forced me to stop struggling or else they would kill mother. I reluctantly did as they told me, and they tied us up. Then they pushed us to somewhere really strange and was about to inform father about our situation when I sneaked up and knocked out some bastards. Just then, a guy launched at me with a long sword, while my arms were tied and I couldn't do anything. But someone jumped in between the sword and me, and the sword stabbed that one on the stomach badly. She fell down on the ground with her stomach covered in blood. It was mother who suffered the stab for me. Just then father's soldiers rushed in and disabled all the men; I was untied and immediately kneeled down by mother's side. She was throbbing and my tears fell down slowly. Mother lifted her hand up and wiped my tears away with her thumb, then she told me to live strong, and then…_

_End of flashback back to normal point view…_

Tears were falling again on his face as he remembered the sad memories about his mother, a gentle breeze blow his hair and he wiped his tears away.

To be continued.


	2. New bodyguard wanted

A/N: Chapter 2's here. Thank you for your reviews for last chapter: iamalittleteapot, Xx.Eternal Rain.xX, Kazumi Kairi or Kairi-chan, risingsundynasty, MyouseiSEED. Please enjoy this chapter and drop me a review of possible, thank you very much.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

öööö

At a magnificent palace in ORB…

"I told you I don't need a stupid bodyguard! I can take care of myself!" Yelled a furious blonde haired Princess. She was a beautiful yet angry girl with silky blonde hair and keen amber eyes. Everything of her was just perfect, her face that was as beautiful as Aphrodite, her body that was as slim and curvy as a model's, her brain power that was really good, her strength that could even match a guy, her voice that could delude even the most neglect guy when she was in good manner, but not her mood. Try to piss her off and you won't be able to see the sunlight **ever again**.

"But Princess, this is the Emperor's idea, because you are a Princess so that you will need to be protected with strict security. Please understand…" Her nanny, Myrna said with a big sweat drop on her forehead. But the stubborn Princess just turned away and pouted.

"Anyway, tomorrow you will have an interview with all candidates and decide who will be your bodyguard. Of course that one will have to be checked after being chosen. Finally, there will only be one person who is as good to be your bodyguard. Whether you like it or not, this is the Emperor's order and you have to obey, Princess." The old nanny said and then went out, leaving the angry girl in her room alone.

"Cagalli, you have to find some solution for this stupid plan… You can never let any stupid, ugly, crazy guy follow you all day. Think Cagalli, think…" She muttered to herself and then fell asleep on her bed. Cagalli woke up again when it was late in the afternoon; she glanced at the pendulum-clock in a corner of her room.

"My, it 5:30 already? I don't think I slept that much! Well, maybe I can't do anything about father's plan, but… yeah; I won't choose any bastards from the candidates." She mumbled and smirked evilly at her plan.

Meanwhile…

"Hey Athrun, have you got everything prepared?" A green haired boy asked a blue haired one.

"Ah, yeah, tomorrow I will be off very soon." Athrun replied with a smile and pointed at his luggage. The green haired blinked, then he asked:

"You don't seem to bring much, do you?"

"Ah yeah, I guess I will have to buy the suitable clothes when I arrive. But don't worry Nicol, I will definitely be alright." Athrun grinned in an assuring way. Nicol only nodded and went to his bed to take a book.

"Hey aren't you hanging out with Yzak and Dearka? Where are they?" Athrun asked while he came to his bed and sat down across his green haired friend.

"I don't know, this morning, after you left, I came back and tried to wake them up, but they just ignored me. Yzak even threatened me that I wouldn't see the world again if I kept on bothering him. They said that thanked to you, they couldn't sleep well, so I just left for the music room and practice some piano. I really had a good time with Bach's compositions. Then when I went back to our room, they already left. That's strange Dearka left the room, maybe the two of them have received a new assignment." Nicol answered and started to read the book.

"Is that so…" Athrun closed his eyes and lay down on his bed freely and stretched.

"Looks like you are tired. Have dinner early and then get some sleeps, I'm sure you too didn't sleep well last night, eh?" The green haired boy suggested while his eyes were still attaching to the book.

"I guess you are right. Wanna have dinner with me?" Athrun smiled and asked, but his friend just shook his head slightly and replied:

"I don't feel like eating right now."

"Okay, so see you around." The blue haired said and stood up, then went out.

The evening passed quickly and peacefully, it was already the day that Athrun had to take his leave.

"Bye Athrun, good luck." Nicol said smiling and waved at Athrun who was getting on the carriage.

"Bye Nicol, take care. If you receive any new assignment, make sure we meet again." Athrun waved back and recommended.

"Uhm, sure." The green haired said without hesitating and continued to wave.

"Then, see you." Athrun laughed and got in, then the carriage set off, bringing him to his new place of assignment. Nicol stood still and stared at the leaving carriage, then he went in and was informed by a maid:

"The Emperor's advisor calls you, sir."

"Oh, okay. I wondered what my new mission is." He thanked the maid and then rushed to the mysterious masked man's room.

öööö

"Didn't you hear that? The Princess wants a bodyguard. I entered for the interview that will be held this afternoon and sure enough, I will be her bodyguard." A blue haired boy walking in a crowded market heard someone said so and that caught his attention.

"Excuse me, but did you just say that the Princess wants a new bodyguard?" He turned around to face the gossiping man and asked politely.

"Yeah, the deadline to be entered is right 12:00 am today at the security office, and in the afternoon, the candidates will gather at the Princess's palace to have an interview with her. The ones who are chosen will have a test and then only one man will be her bodyguard." The man explained and looked at the stranger with scorning eyes. "I suggest you not entering this; this is only for the ones who are extremely strong and good at martial arts and shooting, swordsmanship… So if you don't want to be others' laughing-stock, you'd better not enroll."

"Thank you for the information and you advice, but I think I should try…" He replied calmly and then left. It was 11:30 in the morning and he had to speed up or else he wouldn't be able to make it in time.

_What a stroke of luck I'm having! Right when I don't know how to approach the target easily…_ He thought and ran as fast as he could. At five to twelve, he was at the security office and was the last one to enroll for the interview. Of course he was using his fake name: Alex Dino.

Meanwhile…

"I'm not going to wear a dress for the interview!" A blonde girl yelled and jumped around in her room and her nanny with a stuffy gown couldn't catch her.

"Princess, this is the Emperor's order. You must wear it, because you are a noble Princess!" The nanny also yelled and the blonde paused. Taking her chance, Myrna caught the stubborn princess and tried her best to take the princess's shirt off. The blonde struggled violently, but finally, as always, she lost against the nanny and after 15 minutes, she looked all pretty in her gown. The gown was light green, her favorite color, and it was sleeveless, but not so revealing. She looked mysterious in it, but really, Cagalli herself didn't think so.

"Oh honey… you look so pretty." A purple haired man came in without knocking the door and commented. He was Yuuna Roma Seiran, the son of the Prime Minister, an arrogant, aggressive, perverted bastard, and indeed, Cagalli hated him as if he was a freak or a devil or even a monster.

"The very first rule of etiquette is knocking on the door before you come in, you didn't learn?" She huffed but managed to keep her temper.

"Ah, sorry sorry…" He smiled a smile that he thought was seductive, but Cagalli only found it disgusting. "Okay, but I have to admit that you look extremely beautiful in that gown."

"Why, thank you." She answered sarcastically and continued: "But did you just call me 'honey'? What are you thinking?"

"Sooner or later, you will be my wife, because we are now engaged, so what's wrong with 'honey'? Or if you don't like, then I will just call you 'baby', eh?" Yuuna reasoned and came near Cagalli, but her nanny jumped in between the two and glared at the purple haired freak:

"Excuse me, sir, but Princess hasn't said that she's your fiancée, so please observe etiquette." She said protectively but politely.

_This damn woman is really annoying!_ He thought angrily, but finally, he put on a smile:

"Oh sorry, I'm just kidding." Then he quickly went out of the room. After he closed the door, the two sighed in relief.

"Thank you Myrna, you really saved me." She said and sat down on her bed.

"Err, Princess, Lady Lacus is waiting for you at the garden." The nanny said. Immediately, the blonde jumped up and launched to the door.

"Please act gently, Princess, you are wearing your gown and…" But the brunette couldn't finish her sentence. The clumsy girl stepped on her gown and slipped. The woman ran to her in no time and asked:

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright." The girl answered frowning because of the pain at her butt. She then stood up and limped to the garden where her friend was waiting. Among the fragrant flowers in the garden sat a beautiful pink haired girl, and standing behind her was a brunette.

"Hi Lacus." Cagalli called and made her way to the girl. She turned around and grinned:

"Cagalli… I've been waiting for you. Why are you so late?"

"Err… Myrna forces me to put this gown on and it took me so long." Cagalli replied blushing. Lacus noticed her blushed and giggled:

"Sit down. I heard that you will have an interview with some guys to choose a bodyguard this afternoon, right?"

"Yep, that's why I have to wear this stupid thing." She replied grouchily and sat down beside the pink haired.

"I think that this looks good on you." Lacus chuckled and continued: "You don't want to have a bodyguard, eh?"

"Of course I don't. I'm 16 years old and I can take care of myself, but father just insists on protecting me with those dense guys. I wonder if they can even stand a punch of mine." She answered gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

"Okay okay, calm down. But I guess they are not too bad, Mister Kira is an example, right?" Lacus said soothingly and rubbed the blonde's back and turned to her bodyguard with a wink.

"Whatever." The princess said and pouted, and Lacus laughed at her childish behavior. Just then a maid entered the garden and informed the blonde that it was time for the interview and that all the candidates had gathered at the yard.

"See you then." She smiled and stood up.

"Okay, I'm going back now, good luck." Lacus grinned and waved at the leaving blonde. "Mister Kira do you think that she will get a bodyguard?"

"I'm not very sure, but I think she will." The brunette answered and they left the palace.

_D… it! I will have to torture them hard so that they won't dare to be in any other events…_ The Princess thought evilly as she headed for the interview room.

To be continued.

öööö


	3. The fatal meeting

A/N: Thank you all for reviewing and helping me with my mistakes. I will try my best to improve my writing skill from now on. Please enjoy this and review for me, thanks a lot.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

öööö

"Next." The Princess's secretary called and a tall man came in. He sat down on the chair at Cagalli's table without hesitating.

"Okay, please introduce yourself." Cagalli demanded, trying to be nice.

"Yes Ma'am, my name's Brandes Gresco and I'm twenty. I'm good at martial arts and swordsmanship, if I become your bodyguard, I promise not to let anyone touch you without your permission." He smiled and introduced confidently, somehow, Cagalli found him hateful and shook her head slightly.

"I'm sorry, you may go out now." She said and faked a smile, and then when the poor man was out, the secretary called loudly:

"Next." And a good-looking blue-haired boy came in. He was young, maybe as young as the Princess, and he had strange green eyes.

"Please sit down." Cagalli felt her heart racing in her rib-cage and her blood suddenly ran to her face, but she managed to act calm. The boy sat down and smiled at her slightly, and when she saw the smile, again her heart skipped a beat.

"My name is Alex Dino and I'm sixteen years old. I'm taught most of the weapons such as bows and swords and so on, and I also know about martial arts. I will try my best to pass the test and to be a good bodyguard if you choose me now. And I just want to say thank you to you even if you don't choose me, because it's already a great honor for me to meet you today." He finished still smiling at the bending down girl, well, tip here: he was just as old as the young Princess.

_What are you thinking Cagalli? Why are you blushing at him? Keep you head… But yeah, maybe Lacus is right, not all of them are bad… Should I choose him or not?_ Cagalli thought, but when her brain was not finishing the train of thought, her mouth already answered:

"Okay… Err… Please go the room next to this and wait there. After the interview is finished, you will be informed about the tests." She told him while cursing her stupid heart mentally. Her cheeks were still burning red and she tried to shoo the feelings away, but she failed.

"Thank you very much Princess." He replied and stood up, then went out. _Hah, this is great; the next problem will just be the test… Well, the first step is successful. Nice Princess though…_ 'Alex' smirked and went into the waiting room.

_Oh Cagalli silly Cagalli… Why did you do such things? Or are you just not crazy enough? Then I guess I will just have to choose some more guys… Geez…_ Meanwhile Cagalli was cursing herself and sighing mentally.

"Princess? Shall we continue the interview? You look tired." The secretary asked concerning.

"Ah yeah I'm just fine, call the next one in." She lifted her head up sharply and said, trying to focus on the next candidate.

"Next." The secretary called and a black haired boy stepped in.

"Good afternoon. Please sit down and introduce yourself." She greeted warmly and pointed at the chair.

"Thank you Princess. Err… My name is Shinn Asuka and I'm fourteen. I have learnt every kind of martial arts and archery, too. So I think I can protect you well…"

"Whoa that's impressing, well, you are just a little younger than me, eh? But I guess that won't affect your work, right? Okay, please come to the room next to this and wait there. You will be informed about the tests later." Cagalli tried to grinned and nodded.

"Ah, thank you very much!" He grinned back and went out. Then the interview lasted to 5:00 pm and there were six chosen people, included Athrun and Shinn. They were waiting in the luxurious room having nothing to do. The two blue haired and black haired seemed to get along well and they made friend in just a short period of time.

"I see, you are from the country side, eh?" Athrun asked smiling at the younger boy.

"Yeah, I have my mother and my little sister there. My rather passed away a long time ago." The black haired boy said cheerfully, "And you are from?"

"Ah, err… A country side like you. Hey, you said that there are your sister and mother left at home, right? So why don't you stay and work to support them?" Athrun answered quickly and asked immediately, trying to avoid the category they were talking about.

"I know, but my sister is strong enough, and I have to find some jobs that can bring me the success in fame, right? I want to be a person that some day all this country will have to know my name." He smiled and said proudly.

"Wow that's good, you are ambitious aren't you."

"I guess, my mother usually says so too." Shinn replied grinning widely. Athrun smiled at the child and stared at the door.

"Why are they taking so long?" He muttered, but just then, the door opened and the Princess's secretary came.

"We are finished. The six of you will have you tests tomorrow. You will be tested about your abilities, and I mean every of your abilities. Well, tonight you can have a rest in this palace. Come, I'm showing you your rooms, and later dinner will be brought to your rooms, so just relax and I hope you all will do well tomorrow." The woman said and then walked out, so the six candidates stood up and followed her to their rooms.

_I must remember all the ways in this huge palace; this is a very good chance… I wonder when the Princess will meet the Emperor…_ Athrun thought while following the secretary to his room. Finally they were at their rooms; each one had a separate room and that would be really comfortable for them, especially for someone who was plotting something evilly…

öööö

At the Princess's room…

"His name is Alex Dino, eh? Strange name I guess… Oops! What the heck I'm thinking about?" Cagalli mumbled to herself, and her face went red as she said his name out loud.

Knock knock knock… Someone was knocking gently on the door.

"Please come in." Cagalli called and tried to shoo the thoughts about the blue haired boy away, but her face was carrying a light shade of red.

"Princess, after the bodyguard is selected, you will have to visit the Emperor and introduce your new bodyguard to him." Her nanny stepped in and recommended.

"I know I know, you don't have to repeat it over and over like this, I will go crazy you know." Cagalli huffed and pouted.

"I'm just recommending you Princess. Anyway, who do you think will be your future-bodyguard?" The old maid asked playfully.

"How would I know? I even don't remember all their names and their appearances." She answered raising her voice blushing. In fact, she was thinking and only thinking about the handsome guy with special blue hair and green eyes.

"Then I should go out now. Good night, Princess." The nanny winked at the girl and went out.

"What? Good night? Is it that late?" Cagalli exclaimed and looked out, true, it was dark and the sun had already set. "Oh my! I sure have been thinking for so long. Then I should be having dinner now." Then she ran out to the dining room and quickly had her dinner.

_I wonder if he's having dinner now… _Cagalli thought and shook her head furiously to snap the thought out.

To be continued.

öööö


	4. Tests, the first day

A/N: Hi, the fourth chapter is here. Thank you all for reading and reviewing for me, and special thank you for checking my writing stuffs. So… I'm trying my best in this chapter, please enjoy it and keep reviewing for me.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

öööö

The next morning was such a beautiful day with the sun shining warmly and the birds singing on the trees. In a big room at Princess Cagalli's palace, a certain blue haired woke up and stretched.

"Okay I have lots of things to do today." He told himself and got up, then went to the bathroom for some washing up. After fifteen minutes, he went out, all neat and decent in a white shirt and black trousers, and a black jacket. Just then, there were some knocks on the door and a servant called:

"Sir Alex, it's time for breakfast. You will have breakfast with the others and then start you tests. Please come out in five more minutes."

"Alright, I'm ready." Athrun answered and went out. He followed the servant to the dining room to find only Shinn was there.

"Hey Shinn, looks like you are the earliest, eh?" He greeted cheerfully. The black haired boy grinned back and replied:

"It's just a habit; I always wake up early when I was with my mother and my sister."

"Ah I see. Should we wait for the others or should we start now?" Athrun nodded and sat down on a chair next to Shinn.

"Nah, this is buffet, so I guess we should start now. I'm just waiting for you to have breakfast together." Shinn said and stood up, they went around and filled their plates with food and started their breakfast in silence. The others candidates were somehow still asleep in their comfortable room.

"Hey Alex, do you know what time are we having our tests?" Finally Shinn spoke, breaking the silence between them. Athrun held his head up and blinked, he forgot he was 'Alex'. Only after five seconds, he realized his fatal mistake and answered hesitantly:

"I…Err… I don't know… Err… maybe after breakfast."

"Are you alright? What happened to you?" Shinn noticed his strange behavior and asked concerning. Athrun sweat dropped at his question and denied flatly:

"Yeah I'm very well. Don't worry, just a bit dizzy. Thanks."

"Ah that's good. If you don't feel well today, then it's your bad luck because we are going to have our tests." Shinn let out a sigh of relief and continued to finish his meal.

"Yeah, but I'm just fine, so… yeah… I can take the tests." Athrun faked out a smile and drank some juice in his glass trying to swallow the confusion look on his face. _My, I almost showed him my cloven hoof. That was close; from now on I must be more careful._ He told himself mentally.

"Okay I'm finished." The black haired said and stood up, then a maid came and did the cleaning up while another maid told the black haired to go to the room where the tests took place.

"Bye, good luck." Athrun said swallowing something difficultly.

"Alright, you too." Shinn replied and left. _I wonder why he has been acting so strangely._ He thought. A second after Shinn had left, someone stepped in and looked at Athrun with despising eyes.

"Hey you!" He called arrogantly. Athrun lifted his head up with widened eyes, there had never been any one being that rude to him before.

"You call me?" He asked trying to hide the irritation in his voice.

"Yes I'm calling you, who else? You are a candidate for the Princess's bodyguard job, right?" He asked and jerked his chin up hatefully. Athrun clenched his fists and bit his lower lip; he was really really annoyed at the stranger's manner.

"Yes, and what's with that?" He raised his voice. The bastard came near him and studied the blue haired's face.

"Hah, I wonder what can a chick like you do…" He smirked and brushed a strand of purple haired back. When the freak finished his sentence, Athrun just wanted to give him a hard punch on his face for calling him a chick; somehow he managed to control his anger. He answered coldly:

"I'm a man, sir. I think that you should be more careful when looking at the others…"

"Huh? A man you say? Oww… What a pity… You look just like a hot chick!" The bastard laughed teasingly and went away while Athrun bit his lower lip so hard that there were blood dripping from the wound.

_You just wait you d… purple haired bastard! Even if I won't be able to complete the mission, I will make sure you fall through 18 floors of Hell!_ Athrun cursed mentally as he wiped the blood away and distorted the fork he was holding with the other hand. _Okay keep your head Athrun; you still have tests to take. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale… _

"I'm finished." He announced and stood up, still wincing slightly.

"Please follow me to the tests room." A maid said and led the way, they made their way to a huge room which had three men in the same uniform sitting at a table, they were facing a black haired boy who was aiming at a target.

"Please meet the judges, and good luck with your test. I can only follow you here." The maid said and left before Athrun could thank her. He sighed mentally and walked to the table where the three old men were sitting.

"Sir…" He stated, but was cut off by the man sitting on the left hand side:

"Please keep silence; you will have your test after that boy over there finishes." Athrun nodded understandingly and stepped aside, observed Shinn taking his archery test. The black haired seemed to do very well since all the targets were hit right at the bulls' eyes. There was only one target left. Shinn's ruby red eyes were focusing on the bull's eye, however, his arms were shaking a little and he was sweat dropping. He stretched the bow slowly and tilted his head, closed one eye and then let go of the string and the arrow. The arrow whirled while flying and hit the target, on the inner and only one millimeter next to the bull's eye. When Shinn saw the result, he sighed and mumbled something unclearly, then he slowly walked to the judges' table.

"Good job. What's your name?" The man on the left asked.

"It's Shinn Asuka."

"You did really well, but the last one was not as perfect as the ones before, but still, it's really good. This is you score: 99/100. Please take this and go to the next room." The man in the middle told him and handed a paper to him.

"Thank you." Shinn smiled weakly and took the paper, then went out while a servant was pulling the arrows out from the targets.

"So it's your turn. Please come over there and take the most suitable bow, then start the archery test." The man on the right hand side told Athrun smiling warmly.

"Yes sir." He replied and went to the shelf where the bows were laid. After five minutes lifting the bows up and down, Athrun finally selected a black one in beautiful shape. Then the servant handed him the arrows and he started the test a little nervously. But his aiming skill was marvelous, and he didn't miss even once. All the arrows hit the target at the bull's eyes perfectly, and the judges were all impressed by his skill. When he came to the judges' table, he was praised by the three men and got his result paper after being asked his name.

"You are so good… I have never seen anyone this good before. Even Mister Asuka couldn't do as well as you, his time is double yours. Your result is 100/100, go to the next room and good luck with the next test. I believe you are good enough to be the Princess's bodyguard." The man in the middle commented and Athrun thanked him, then left.

_This is a good start. Now I will just have to believe in my abilities and do a good job. Then when I'm the Princess's bodyguard, the problem will be solved easily…_ Athrun thought and grinned evilly to himself. He passed the next tests without difficulty and always got his results better than Shinn and the others. I have to say here, the other candidates only had the maximum score matched 95/100, so you can see how good Athrun and Shinn were.

öööö

Meanwhile in the Princess's room…

"Princess, Lady Hahnenfuss wants to meet you." The old nanny announced to the blonde standing at the balcony.

"Please call her in." Cagalli demanded still gazing at the sky. She had been acting strange since the interview: Stared blankly at the sky, sang to herself, mumbled something and then slapped herself hard, etc…

"Princess, you look strange today…" The newcomer spoke, snapping the blonde out from her day dreams.

"Hey Shiho, I told you, we are friends, so don't call me Princess…" Cagalli pouted turning to Shiho slowly. She hated people calling her 'Princess', which made her sounded weak.

"Okay… err… Cagalli did you put any make up on? You look much more beautiful today." Shiho commented blinking as she came near the blushing girl.

"N… No… You know I hate to make up!" Cagalli denied flatly avoiding Shiho's sharp eyes.

"Yes, you did. I can see your lips have the unusual pink color, and your eyelids are slightly green. You can't lie to me you know. Let me guess, did you have a crush on somebody?" Shiho chuckled mischievously and came near the Princess, then hugged her tightly.

"What… What are you talking about?" The blonde blushed more and stuttered, but her red face was denouncing her.

"See? You are blushing, so that's right! You are having a crush!" Shiho giggled and tickled the blonde.

"**Hey stop tickling me!**" Cagalli yelled at the brown haired irritated, her face was as red and hot as the summer sun.

"Tell me the truth and I will stop!" The girl just laughed deviously and tickled more, and Cagalli had to jump up and down to avoid her fingers, but it was no use. Finally, she gave up and sighed defeated:

"Okay I'm telling you."

"**Yay!**" The excited Shiho squealed and jumped around in victory.

"I… Yes I feel like somebody… But… Yeah… I just like him only a little… A little you know…" Cagalli told the brown haired hesitantly, and her face was burning.

"Heh heh heh, I'm wondering who's that hot guy to melt even our boyish Princess's icy heart…" Shiho giggled at the blonde and demanded: "Tell me who he is, or else I will continue to tickle you."

"Okay alright! He… He's a boy…" Cagalli yelled, but then she lowered her voice when she mentioned her crush.

"I know he's a boy, at least he's not a gay like Sir Seiran is he?" Shiho laughed playfully and lifted her hand up tending to tickle Cagalli, but she was caught at her wrist.

"Hey stop tickling me… I'm telling you here… Okay he is a good-looking guy with blue haired and green eyes." Cagalli explained her voice went lower and lower as she described her honey-in-dream.

"Huh? Blue hair and green eyes? Then he must be a monster!" Shiho jumped up and screamed in disbelief, and she got a pinched from her irritated friend.

"Don't scream like that Shiho!" Cagalli yelled while the brown haired yelped because of the pinch.

"Okay alright…" She frowned rubbing her sore cheek. "But I can't believe there's someone with blue hair and green eyes. You must be careful of him. Have you heard of the green eyed monster?"

"Yeah, that's the monster of jealousy, but he was all polite and nice, I guess he's not that kind…" Cagalli answered dreamily and got a nudge from the brown haired:

"Wow you are defending him, eh? This is hot news; I must announce this to everyone!" She laughed and ran out of the room playfully.

"**Stop **there Shiho! I swear I would skin you alive if you tell this to anyone! **Shiho!**" Cagalli yelled and blushed if her face could turn redder, she ran after the laughing brown haired girl who was squealing happily…

To be continued.

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	5. Incidents

A/N: So here's the next chapter. Thank you all for reading and reviewing to this fic. I hope you enjoy this one and if you have time, please just drop me a review, thanks a lot.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

öööö

"Ah choo!" A blue haired boy sneezed loudly, catching the attention of the black haired sitting next to him.

"Alex, you are sick aren't you? This morning you felt dizzy, and now you sneeze…" He asked concerned, his red eyes were studying the blue haired carefully.

"No no I'm just fine, don't worry Shinn, at least I can take the test tomorrow…" 'Alex' replied, rolling his eyes, "I guess it's just someone is mentioning me…" _And who can that be?_ He wondered.

"Well, you will have to rest in your room you know. If you can't take the test tomorrow, then you will fail." Shinn recommended Athrun patting his back. They were sitting in the waiting room together with four other candidates. They had completed the tests for the first day, and according to the information they received earlier, only the two best candidates would attend the test on the second day. The secretary was considering the results of them and they had to wait for about **five hours** since the last test was taken by the last candidate.

"Hey why are you two so sure about taking the test tomorrow?" A blonde haired guy sitting across them asked, suspiciously squinting his eyes.

"Oh, I forgot the phrase 'In case'…" Shinn answered politely but sarcastically, and the blonde winced at the black haired's arrogant manner.

"Such a big mouth…" He muttered angrily, but Shinn's listening ability was marvelous and he could hear the blonde's mutter clearly.

"Pardon me, what did you just say?" He asked jerking his chin up, as he managed to keep his temper.

"Nothing…" The blonde denied flatly smirking, and that really did make Shinn lose the control of himself.

"You said that I'm a big mouth didn't you?" He yelled, jumping on his feet and tucked his sleeves up, ready for a fight while the blonde took one step back sweat dropping.

"Calm down Shinn, I guess you don't want to cause troubles, do you? Just sit down and wait for the result, I believe you are the one who will attend tomorrow's test." Athrun stood up and put a hand on the hot-head's shoulder. Shinn turned to the blue haired and his eyes softened when he saw the gentle smile across Athrun's lips. He glared at the blonde dangerously and then sat down without saying a word. The blonde let out a sigh in relief, he didn't know why he was scared, but when he looked into the black haired boy's burning eyes, his heartbeats increased and his limbs went flaccid.

"Okay everybody, I have the result here." The secretary announced stepping into the room, and her sentence caught the candidates' attention. Everyone stared at her awaiting with hopeful eyes, and the young woman smirked when she saw that.

"Tomorrow there will only be two candidates who can attend the final test, you know that…" She said, playfully extending the announcement, "Now I will tell you who the lucky guys are. Number one, the one who has the second highest result, is Shinn Asuka!"

"**Wee!"** Shinn screamed and jumped up and down, then landed on Athrun's body, both fell on the floor while the black haired was still crushing the blue haired's bones.

"And the second, the one who has the highest result, is Alex Dino!" The woman announced laughing at the two, and Athrun's eyes went wide as he heard the announcement while the others were sighing, some were even crying.

"Alex, this is **great!** **Just great!** We are both in!" Shinn yelled into Athrun's ear, rending his eardrum with the sounds.

"The announcement is not over yet…" The secretary continued giggling, "So the ones who are unlucky, please take a rest in the palace for the last night and tomorrow you will take your leave, understand? And you two, please have a peaceful rest tonight, and tomorrow you will have a duel to choose the final winner." She finished pointing at the two boys who were getting up with difficulty on the floor.

"Pardon me? A duel you said?" The two asked in unison, blinking.

"Yeah, you will have a duel to decide who will be the bodyguard of our Princess." The woman repeated coldly walking out of the room while Shinn and Athrun looked at each other not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

öööö

"Dare to tell anyone?" A blonde growled, under her was a brown haired girl smiling nervously.

"But I didn't tell anyone, did I?" The brown haired girl answered mischievously and the blonde became tongue-tied. She slowly let go of the brown haired and threatened:

"If you dare to tell anyone, I will make sure you won't be able to see the sunlight **ever** **again**…"

"I'm not that stupid…" The brown haired got up and dusted her clothes, then she started to laugh.

"**Shiho!** What are you laughing at?" The blonde yelled annoyed and that caused Shiho to run ten feet away from her.

"I'm just imagining you with your honey-in-dream…" Shiho answered dreamily while there was smoke coming out from the blonde's ears.

"I'll give you three seconds to run," She warned panting heavily trying to keep her mood, "One… Two… Th…" But before she finished her sentence, the devious girl ran away at her full speed.

"**Three!**" The blonde yelled and ran after the brown haired. Shiho laughed all over and over while running along the corridor, just as she bumped into someone hard causing her to lie flat on the floor and the stranger was thrown toward the wall then landed painfully on his back.

"Oww…" She groaned trying hard to get up, but she fell down again.

"Watch where you are going!" The other one yelled getting up. Shiho was furious because of the yells from the stranger. She held her head up and saw a tall man with silver hair and icy eyes. He was quite a handsome guy, but his handsome face couldn't reach the girl's mind, who was shooting death glares toward him.

"Are you okay?" The blonde arrived and asked the brown haired worriedly.

"Ah, I'm fine, thank you Cagalli…" Shiho answered and stood up with the help of Cagalli.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you…" Shiho murmured angrily, however she managed not to yell at a total stranger. The silver haired man who was dusting his clothes just glanced at her and replied bluntly:

"You must be more careful when you run, or else you will bump into loads of people… Next time if you bump into me again, I won't forgive you, got it?" The sentenced took away the little control left in Shiho's mind.

"It's none of your business, what will you do when I bump into you again? Huh? Slap me? Skin me? Hang me?" She growled stomping ahead, there were veins popping onto her forehead.

"Woman, just try and I'll let you see for yourself!" The silver haired yelled back, there were veins popping onto his forehead too.

"Oh really?" Shiho chuckled evilly and not letting the stranger answer, she kicked him hard on his shank and stormed away angrily.

"**D…**, stop right there **woman!**" He cursed loudly while rubbing his sore leg and called after the brown haired girl, but she didn't do as he told. After one second, Shiho was out of sight, so he had to sigh heavily defeated.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry; she's always like that…" Cagalli asked and apologized trying her best to hold her laughter. The silver haired slow stood straight back and nodded coldly.

"Excuse me but can I speak to Princess Cagalli?" He asked politely, and to his surprise, the blonde standing in front of him pointed to herself replying:

"It's me…"

"You are… the Princess?" He asked again in disbelief, his eyes widening.

"Yes, what's wrong?" Cagalli questioned irritated.

"Err… I'm Mandarin Warill Teno, the Emperor has asked me to come here and inform you about engagement with Sir Yuuna Roma Seiran." He stated bowing slightly toward the jaw-dropping Princess.

"**What?"** She screamed in disbelief, "**My engagement** with **Sir Seiran**?" Cagalli's feeling turned from surprise to horror in less than a second, her head felt all dizzy and she couldn't even think of anything.

"Yes Princess. The Emperor wants you to be prepared for your wedding next month." 'Warill' said calmly as the horrified princess staggered toward the wall and leaned against it.

"Anything else?" She questioned, her eyes were still widening, and she felt as if all of her strength was leaving her.

"No Princess, so… Err… Please be prepared. I'm taking my leave." The silver haired man answered and went away when he saw Cagalli's nod, not forgetting to take the final glance at her and an evil smile appeared across his lips. His figure slowly disappeared at the turning, and Cagalli was left all alone in the corridor. She couldn't believe the information he had just told her was the real thing, and she didn't want to believe it.

_What the hell is happening? My engagement? My wedding? With Seiran? Why didn't father inform me about all this mess?_ The questions battled in her head to such an extent that she wanted to faint because of them. Unsteadily, she walked to her room like a drunken guy, and when she arrived at the stairs, she almost fell off when someone caught her just in time when she slipped.

"**Watch out!"** He yelled and pulled her back but both of them lost their balance and fell on the floor, only millimeters away from the stairs. The blonde fell on top of her rescuer and her lips accidentally landed on his cheek. The fall snapped her out of her thoughts and she blushed deeply when realizing their position. Cagalli immediately pulled back and her eyes met with a pair of emerald ones.

"I'm sorry… Err… Thank you…" Cagalli stuttered when she recognized who the owner of them was, the boy with midnight blue hair and a well toned body. She quickly stood up and the boy got up too.

"Are you okay, Princess?" He asked worriedly looking at her face.

"Ah, yeah, I'm just fine… I… I've got to go… Sorry…" She stammered badly and ran downstairs to her room, then dumped herself on her bed.

_Oh my God! What am I thinking about? Why is my heart beating like this? No… Am I falling for him? This is not good… not good at all…_ She thought, her heart was racing and her face was as bright as the summer sun. However, when she touched her lips, she smiled tenderly and her face went redder and redder. _I… I kissed him? Oh my… But… I have to admit that his body is so warm and well built… No! I should think about that! Snap it out, snap it out… You must be crazy Cagalli… This is not your usual self… Stay calm Cagalli…_

As for Athrun, he just stood at the stairs gazing at the blonde's running figure and smiled softly. Then he looked down on his hands which had just held her curvy body thirty seconds ago.

"She has a warm body, though…" He mumbled under his breath and went back to his room smiling happily.

To be continued.

öööö


	6. Duel, who's the winner?

A/N: New chapter is here. It's not so late, is it? So… Please read and review for me, thank you all.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.



"So now comes the duel between Alex Dino and Shinn Asuka." The secretary of the princess announced. They were in the yard of the palace with the two contestants left, three judges, and the princess with her secretary.

"Before you two start, I have something to say. You two are extremely good at everything, so the winner will be my bodyguard, that's obvious, but also, the other will be in the Royal Guards group, and you will have plenty of chances, so please show your best today." The blonde haired girl assured while a smile played across her lips.

_Sorry Shinn, but I have a mission to complete, so I cannot afford to lose against you here…_ Athrun thought with a glance at the black haired boy standing next to him.

_Alex, I don't think I can lose against you here, especially when I have a kind of important plan…_ Shinn also thought, wincing a little.

"Now please start the duel!" One of the judges yelled, blowing a whistle. Immediately the two bowed at the princess and took a few steps away from each other, drawing their swords out.

"Please counsel me about my shortcomings." They said in unison and launched at each other in no time. Shinn swung his sword toward Athrun's face but he ducked and clove downward back at Shinn's shoulder. The black haired flipped his sword and the two swords met, making a loud **'clang'** sound.

_The two of them are so good… I wonder if Alex could win… Wait! You are not spraying for his victory are you? Cagalli silly Cagalli… Stop thinking about it and focus on the duel! It's a good chance for you to learn more about swordsmanship…_ Cagalli thought and slapped herself hard on the face. The two contestants didn't realize her weird behavior, but the secretary and three judges did. They stared at her with questioning eyes, but she gave them her famous glare and they stopped immediately, big sweats were forming on their foreheads.

The two contestants were measuring their strength against each other in the middle of the yard, and sweats slowly appeared on their foreheads. Shinn stabbed his sword at Athrun's lower stomach, but he dodged it easily and pretended to do a horizontal slash at Shinn's thigh. The black haired immediately turned his sword to parry the slash, but it was a fake strike, not waiting for the swords to meet again, Athrun withdrew it and aimed at the opponent's throat. Shinn startled and jumped back, luckily he was able to dodge it, somehow there was a small trace on his neck that was bleeding, but not very badly.

"Wow that's amazing Alex!" He complimented, putting his thumb up while his free hand was touching his neck.

"Thanks…" Athrun replied with a small smile across his lips. The two were staring at each other panting for some seconds, then they launched at each other again, but that time their speeds increased and their postures were a lot more vehement.



"Hey who do think will win?" A brown haired girl whispered into the other browned head's ear.

"I don't know, but I guess the blue haired boy will… He seems to be more grown up than the other. Don't you think so Shiho?" She whispered back.

"No, I think the black haired will win, Milly. He's shorter, that's right, but I think he's faster. I bet 10 dollars he will be Cagalli's bodyguard." Shiho answered shaking her head while her eyes still gazing at the duel.

"Okay, 10 dollars the blue haired will." Miriallia said and patted Shiho's back slightly. They were standing in the garden observing the duel between the two in the yard nearby. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming toward them so they turned around. In front of their eyes came a silver haired guy with icy eyes.

"You freak…" Shiho muttered angrily getting ready for another catfight. The silver haired of course realized her and winced in no time.

"You know him?" Miriallia blinked, turning to her best friend and questioned as she saw the two's manner. Shiho drew in a deep breath and asked as calmly as she could:

"What are you doing here?"

"Why would you ask? The garden is for everybody, so why shouldn't I be here?" The silver haired man snapped back annoyingly and gave her a smirk.

"Can't believe a freak know how to taste the beauty of a garden…" Shiho returned his smirk and mocked.

"Who are you calling 'freak' woman?" He asked giving her death glares and clenched his fists tightly. The flame of anger was burning higher and higher in him.

"I didn't say that you are a freak, no peace for the wicked eh?" She retorted teasingly and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Shut up woman before I get angry…" He warned dangerously, more likely to be a growl that escaped from his mouth through gritting teeth.

"What if I don't shut up?" She questioned stomping toward him and jerked her chin up.

"I will…" But he couldn't finish his sentence. Shiho gave him another kick at the shank and ran away laughing. (A/N: The last kick she gave him was in the last chapter, remember?

"Try to catch me you silver haired freak!"

"D… woman!" He cursed while limping after the devious brown haired girl.

_I wonder what's between those two…_ Miriallia told herself shrugging.



Shinn jumped up and made a vertical slash from the above. Athrun held his sword up and parried it successfully as Shinn used the parry as his jumping-off and somersaulted flexibly in the air, then landed right behind Athrun's back. The blue haired immediately turned back just as Shinn was swinging his sword at his open throat, he raised his sword so that the two met and another shrill clang was earned. It turned out to be a mere match of strength and Shinn slowly got weaker and weaker every second passed. Using all his strength, the black haired pushed his sword forward hard and jumped back while Athrun was taken aback too.

_D… He's so strong! How can I manage to win against him?_ Shinn thought angrily while panting heavily and so did Athrun.

_Got to think of some way, he's so fast! I cannot afford to lose and fail the mission, I can't._ He told himself as his eyes were studying his opponent carefully to find his weak point, but Shinn's skill seemed perfect. _Then I guess I will have to use some special techniques…_

Right after the train of thoughts stop loading in his head, the black haired boy started to attack again, but this time, Athrun stood still waiting for the blow. Shinn was surprised at that, but anyway, he quickly took one long step ahead, lowered his body and did an oblique slash at the blue haired guy's left shoulder. Athrun quickly ducked and stepped on Shinn's folding knee, then jumped up as high as possible, and while he was being pulled back down by the gravity, he turned his head down and pointed his sword at his opponent's open back quaintly. The black haired noticed the blow and took another jump ahead to evade it. So instead of Shinn's back, the sword was stuck in the hard ground and it became a disadvantage for Athrun as his opponent, catching him off guard, immediately turned back swung his sword toward him. Athrun had no choice but to spin around and evade it, but Shinn had already left a small cut on Athrun's right arm. Pulling the sword out, the blue haired faked a strike at Shinn's back, and Shinn actually fell for it. He spun around, lifting his sword up to parry it, but quickly the stab became versatile and in less than a split of second, it was place on his neck perfectly.

"Stop the duel! The result is decided!" One of the judges announced in the cheer of the by-walkers as Athrun withdrew his sword and so did Shinn. They bowed at each other politely and the black haired candidate smiled:

"You are so good Alex! I admire and respect your swordsmanship skill…" Shinn commented trying to fake a smile, but his eyes saddened and that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde haired princess.

"Mister Asuka, you did very well, and you will be appointed as the leader of Squad One of the Royal Guards group, and… who knows, someday maybe you will be a Mandarin…" She comforted the black haired boy cheerfully, somehow received an icy glare from him. _Why is he glaring at me? Or is it just me? Yeah maybe… But… Why am I feeling so happy? This is weird… _She wondered returning the glare with her famous smile. Also, Shinn's glare didn't go unnoticed by Athrun's peevish eyes. _Note to self: Watch after that Shinn Asuka carefully, he's up to some plan… _He thought narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Okay, now Mister Asuka, please have your last night at this palace, tomorrow you will be transferred to the Royal Guards Group's office. And Mister Dino, please meet me later at my room, I will inform you about your job tomorrow." The princess's secretary announced, "Please follow me you two."

The two did as the middle-aged woman told them, and before leaving, Athrun turned his head to the princess and narrowed his eyes secretly with an evil smirk plastering across his lips. _Tonight the report will be sent…_

To be continued.

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	7. Socalled comrades!

A/N: Okay, chapter 7 is coming! Sorry for taking a little long, but I'm busy at the moment. But yeah, I tried to compensate for you waiting by making it a little longer, I mean **extra **long. Anyway, please enjoy this and review for me, thanks.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

öööö

"What** on earth** were you doing Zala? Why didn't you finish him off at **that **time?" A silver haired guy queried angrily, grabbing a certain blue haired man's collar and pushed him against the wall.

"What are you doing here Yzak?" Athrun asked, apparently surprised at Yzak's presence. They were in his room, and he was reading a book when the silver haired jumped in from the opening window and yelled at him.

"Answer me first **bastard**!" In reply, he roared hoarsely, still not letting go of Athrun's collar.

"Yeah, what were you doing?" Demanded a blonde haired, who followed Yzak into the room. Athrun's eyes widened as he recognized the man standing behind the silver haired smirking.

"And you Dearka, why are you here? You are supposed to be in PLANTS preparing for the plan of the Emperor's advisor…" Athrun kept asking as he was so surprised and couldn't get his train of thoughts straight immediately.

"**Don't** make me repeat Zala… Answer me or **I'll kill you!"** Yzak yelled at the top of his lungs as a vein popped onto his forehead.

"Very fine I'll answer you, but first **let go of my collar**, you are choking me!" Athrun shouted back as he was getting a little annoyed at Yzak too. The hot-headed boy let go of the poor collar and sat down on the bed, waiting for the blue haired's answer impatiently. After looking back and forth, in and out, at the corridor and the balcony to check if anyone was eavesdropping the story, Athrun started:

"Well, it went on like this…

_Flashback…_

"_You are going with me to my father's place today." The blonde haired princess announced to Athrun as they were stepping into the carriage. "I will inform him about you and ask him something too…" The second sentence became quieter as she frowned a little because of the uncomfortable thought just entered her mind._

_Athrun felt himself like in the heaven as he heard so, that was just what he needed, but he tried not to expose any of his feelings. He was very well-trained being cold and he could always hide his real emotions, however for some strange reasons, whenever he was with the princess, his feelings just rose in his heart uncontrollably and there were butterflies flying crazily in his stomach. That time was the same, he failed miserably hiding his smirk, and finally, he dragged a half-smile out of his lips unwillingly and in no time the princess noticed that._

"_Hey what's so funny?" She asked irritated, thinking her bodyguard was making fun of her irritation._

"_I'm sorry Princess… It's nothing…" He replied smiling, trying to calm the hot head down. "Err… May I know what makes you so angry?" Again, his curiousness took control of him, and he mentally sighed after letting the question out._

"_Don't mention it, that's such a hateful problem I have to deal with…" Cagalli answered shaking her head wincing at the thought._

"_If you have something annoying, don't keep it for yourself, it will definitely kill you slowly. Just share it with someone, and maybe after that you will feel more comfortable." He gave her another smile, trying to convince her to share the problem with him. The girl's heart softened as she saw his gentle smile, and not being able to control herself anymore, she spilled it out to him:_

"_I can't imagine this actually happens to me… My father arranged me an engagement with the man I hate, **without** discussing with **me! **And you know what, my wed with him will be held in one month,** o.n.e m.o.n.t.h!** That's just so unfair! I can't accept this! At all cost I will have to cancel this stupid thing, or else I would rather die!" She poured her heart out to him, not hiding anything from that man. Cagalli herself was wondering why she told her bodyguard her feelings but not anyone else, such as Lacus or Shiho._

"_Princess, is that all?" Athrun asked furrowing his eyebrows a little. He didn't know why, but he was feeling uneasy as the princess mentioned her engagement and her wedding. He tried hard to shoo the feeling away, but it just kept on smoldering in his heart._

"_Yeah that's all, what do you think about it?" Cagalli scoffed._

"_Err… In my opinion, I don't think it's a good idea of your father to put it on you like that. At least he should have discussed it with you. And if you hate your fiancé that much, he shouldn't force you to marry him; I don't think you two can get along well if you hate him for your entire life…" He nodded knowingly as the girl sitting across him squealed happily._

"_That's very kind of you Dino! Thank you very much for understanding my feelings and siding with me!" She exclaimed while jumping up and down._

"_Now now Princess, please calm down and don't jump like that, that maybe dangerous." He smiled nervously at the blonde._

"_You are speaking as if you are my nanny." She pouted and sat down, blushing slightly. He grinned toothily and she blushed even deeper at that. After a long while sitting doing nothing in silence, they started to talk about things on heaven and earth, and soon became good friends. Realizing that they had quite a lot of things in common, the two began to feel comfortable being together._

"_Princess, you don't' need to call me Dino, Ath… I mean Alex is fine." He told her while a smile plastered across his lips._

"_Fine I'll call you Alex, but why are you calling me 'Princess'? Just call me Cagalli that's an order." She demanded winking at him._

"_That's extremely regardless of me, Princess." He replied as a big sweat drop appeared on his forehead._

"_No, call me Cagalli or I'll make you suffer Alex! I hate people calling me 'Princess', you know!" She pouted in a lovely way and he giggled at her childish reaction._

"_Okay, Princess, but I will call you by your name only when there are no other people." Athrun promised conditionally and Cagalli nodded happily. Just then the carriage arrived at Emperor's magnificent castle. It had a huge chain-bridge which was made of iron wood. And the size was really something you cannot possibly imagine. The entire castle was made of white marble and in the daylight, it looked like a castle of the fairies in the tales. When the guards saw the carriage, they immediately lowered the chain-bridge so that the carriage could enter the castle. After it was completely in, they quickly lifted the bridge up to prevent anyone who wanted to break into it. However, they didn't notice that there was **one**, the one who entered without difficulty and right in front of their noses. _

_Athrun stepped out and extended his hand to the princess, and she accepted it blushing slightly. After going out, they followed the servant to the hall where the Emperor was sitting with some of the high ranking mandarins and the Queen waiting for them._

_As they were entering the room cautiously, a warm voice which suddenly made Athrun felt relieved echoed:_

"_You are late dear…" It was the Emperor who was currently looking at them smiling comfortably. His indulgent eyes were making Athrun felt respectful and he just wanted to kneel down before him._

"_No, this is too dangerous! He's my target; I can't possibly feel like this! Certainly today I will have to put an end to his life!" He told himself and mentally slapped his face. Slowly, he started to focus on his lessons about hiding his emotions in the farthest corner of his heart, and so his face became emotionless. Cagalli noticed it, and she was feeling uneasy seeing him like that. However that was not the right time to ask about his sudden change, so she decided to keep her mouth shut and slowly walked toward the Emperor with him following._

"_So, this is your new bodyguard, right?" The middle-aged man asked his daughter with a firm yet tender voice and the blonde haired girl nodded._

"_Yes father, he's my bodyguard. I chose him compliance with your will. He was really good and beat all the other candidates." She introduced calmly as Athrun solemnly bowed at the Emperor. He observed the blue haired carefully, then nodded contented._

"_What is your name?" He asked with a warm smile._

"_Your Majesty, my name is Ath… Alex Dino." He almost blurted out that he was 'Athrun Zala', but quickly changed it into 'Alex Dino' and mentally sighed. The King didn't seem to notice it and gave another contented nod._

"_I hope you will be able to protect my daughter. She's a runaway, and the former guard of her, Kisaka, was not able to stop her from escaping her palace. So please be very careful of her." He told Athrun and he answered with respect:_

"_Yes sir, I will try my best to protect her."_

"_Okay, if you don't have any further questions, now you may leave." The King ordered while looking at his daughter._

"_Erm… Your Highness, there is something that I want to talk to you in private." Cagalli stated not looking at her father. The Emperor was surprised at the blonde's demand, but he only nodded:_

"_If that's the case, then you will meet me at my room this afternoon, is that okay for you?"_

"_Yes your Highness. Now I shall take my leave." She replied and bowed at him along with her blue haired bodyguard, then they walked out at the hall as cautiously as they had arrived._

"_Err… Alex? I have something to ask you." The blonde princess demanded glancing at Athrun through the corner of her eyes._

"_Yes Princess, what is it?" He asked turning to her while keeping his emotionless mode. She gave a heavy sigh and asked a little worriedly:_

"_You aren't feeling well, are you? I have never seen you like this."_

"_Oh is that so?" He was startled by her sentence and immediately tried to get back to his normal mood. Arching his eyebrows, he pretended to be surprised and questioned back kind of stupidly._

"_What's with you today?" Cagalli continued to asked, slightly furrowing her eyebrows in annoyance. Knowing that he was hiding some important things from her, she felt half annoyed and half concerned._

"_Thank you for your care, but I think I am perfectly well. You don't need to worry about me, Princess." He answered politely, and that really was pouring the oil into the burning fire of her. After half a day talking to each other like friends, there he was talking with formality again. There were** big **veins popping onto her forehead as she grunted in her throat and dragged him to the garden in the castle. And when they were there, she let her anger flared up freely._

"_**What the h… **I mean what are you thinking about? Why are you hiding it from me? We are friends now, and **that's** how you are talking to **me**?" She yelled at the top of her lungs and he immediately had a buzzing in his ears because of the close distance between them. Instinctively, he covered his ears with his hands and took ten feet away from the howling girl in horror._

"_Look, Prin… I mean Cagalli, I'm terribly sorry…" He explained sweat dropping, but was cut off by Cagalli:_

"_**Shut up** Alex! I warn you, if you **dare** to talk to me like **that anymore**, I **swear** I will** skin you**!" Cagalli roared, emphasizing the words 'skin you', then stormed away with dark aura coming out from her ears. Inside her heart, she was feeling quite hurt by his manner, and she didn't know why he acted that way. Angry, tired and puzzled, the blonde decided to go back to her temporary room for a short snap._

"_Phew, that was close; I- a well-trained bodyguard- nearly got killed by my Princess…" Athrun mumbled under his breath while letting out a sigh in relief. _

_öööö_

"_Father, why didn't you inform me about my engagement before?" Cagalli was in the Emperor's room, asking with her calmest voice. The old man didn't even bother to look up from the book he was reading and answered her casually:_

"_Cagalli, you should learn some manners. This is the need of ORB, and you need to sacrifice for your own country. Like you know, Mister Seiran is the son of one of the most important mandarins, beside, he's a kind and reliable man, so there's nothing wrong for you to marry him."_

"_But father, why do I have to marry him in one month?" She kept questioning, getting impatience by her father's answer._

"_Because Cagalli, I know I'm old and I can't wait to see my own daughter getting married and take the position of me. My time will not last that long until I see you want to marry someone willingly." Uzumi looked up from the book and looked straight at Cagalli, who was having her jaw on the ground as his reply slowly sank into her head._

"_Look Cagalli, you must marry someone powerful enough to keep our country safe from disasters, why can't you understand that?" The man continued to convince the young princess to believe in his decision._

"_But father…" _

"_No buts Cagalli. You will have to get married to Sir Seiran in one month, that's an order." Uzumi ordered firmly and turned away. Trying her best not to jump up and yell out loud, Cagalli only bowed at her father and got out. She was totally overloaded._

"_Can't believe my own father is doing this to me…" The princess muttered angrily running away back to her room…Throwing herself on the bed, she let her angry tears flow out freely and wet her pillow with them. Then after a while, she dropped off to sleep while still cursing her father's stupid plan._

_öööö_

_The moonlight was shining tenderly on everything, and there was not a single cloud in the clear night sky. A shadow was running quietly in the hallway. His midnight blue hair was hidden in the darkness of the corridor, and his bright green eyes were glowing like a wolf's. Dangerously and swiftly, he approached the Emperor's room without making a sound. There were guards on patrol keeping the area safe, but none of them could see the assassin approaching. In a blink of an eye, he finished them off and smartly hid himself behind a huge pillar. The great oak door was centimeters away, where two guards were standing protectively. Slowly drawing his dagger out, he was about to knock them out when a scream in horror echoed, taking away his advantage of silence._

"_Oh **s…**, they discovered it!" He thought, as immediately the sleepy guards startled and drew their swords out. Athrun knew the situation was a disadvantage for him, but he needed to complete his mission quickly, so instead of running back to his room, he jumped on one guard and cut his throat soundlessly. The other saw it and panicked, slashed his sword on Athrun's open back. But the assassin was quicker, he rolled on the floor off the corpse, and indeed, the sword stabbed on the ill-fated guard's chest. Taking his chance, Athrun stabbed his dagger into the one left's rib with lightning speed, and he ended on the ground, wasn't able to let out even a whimper. However, when Athrun was about to open the door and slay the Emperor, he heard several footsteps coming, and at the turning of the corridor, it was all lightened up. Cursing slightly, he jumped out through a granite palate, landed safely on the garden's ground and ran back to his room like the wind. In a split of second, he was on his room's balcony, ready to enter through the opened window when someone saw him and screamed. That caught his attention and also the guards surrounding the area. _

"_Oh d…!" He cursed quietly and in no time, he pulled out a dart and flung it at the poor man's neck, so that he collapsed immediately. Before the guards could rush there to find out the source of the scream, he quickly jumped into his room, closed the window and threw himself on the bed. His heart was still beating fast after the incidents. _

"_Oh man, this is so bad! I almost did it! D… the guards and whoever screamed out loud like that! Looks like the Emperor's advisor will give me a lecture after this… Sheesh…" Athrun thought, grunting. Then he got up and changed, his bloodstained clothes were all burnt secretly in his room, and his dagger was carefully cleaned. After doing all the cleaning, the blue haired assassin went back to bed and closed his eyes, tried hopelessly to get some sleep before the dawn._

_And all that night, the guards rummaged about in the castle to find the assassin, but to their disappointment and to Athrun's great relief, they couldn't find out. Of course the Emperor's life was safe; all of them had a scary time, though. The next morning, he just came out and with an innocent cover. Being interrogated by the guards, Athrun didn't flinch a little bit and answered all the questions fluently. Having no witness or proof, they eventually had to let him pass and afterward, he went back to the princess's palace with her while they were still investigating the assassination. He kept his face normal all the way back, but inside, he was laughing at the guards' stupidity._

_End of flashback…_

"And it has been a week since you did it unsuccessfully, why didn't you do anything?" Yzak queried suspiciously, squinting his eyes.

"I have no chance to! The princess hasn't visited him since… and so…" Athrun explained slyly scratching the back of his head.

"Shame on you, Zala… That's how an ace assassin of ZAFT should be doing?" Dearka mocked, smirking hatefully. Athrun had to try his best not to punch him on the nose right away. _Okay, Athrun, Dearka is your friend and your comrade; you shouldn't do anything bad to him… I'm really happy, I'm really happy… Think of mother, of the country, the green fields, the books, Nicol, the princess, **cutting Dearka's throat, jumping over his dead corpse…**_

"Anyway, what are you two doing here?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"Same thing…" Yzak answered briefly; way **too** briefly that Athrun couldn't make head or tail of it at all.

"Huh?" He blinked helplessly.

"Idiot! We are here to complete our mission, what else? If yours is him, then mine is the Prime Minister, and Dearka's is the General." The silver haired explained wincing a little. Well, all the time, it was the easiest thing for you to see.

"See! Hey, if you think that I'm so useless, how about us exchanging our targets?" Athrun suggested smiling sarcastically.

"Not possible!" Dearka replied shrugging. "Once the commander discovers this, we will all be executed for cheating."

"Only if you two tell him…" Athrun retorted, jerking his chin up.

"Well well, look who's asking us for help, aren't you the prideful Red Knight in shiny armors?" Yzak mocked while a small smirk crept onto his face. "Heh, you almost blew your cover, and now ask us to do your job, smart enough Zala."

"Okay, just come to have a check on you. Good luck Zala, we're leaving!" Dearka announced and patted Athrun's back slightly.

"So-called comrades…" Athrun muttered irritated as the other two exited his room by the window, as suddenly and hurriedly as their visit.

To be continued.

öööö


	8. Catfights

A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the mess of the last chapter, but it just couldn't be helped. I tried my best and finally replaced it with the old form, therefore if you want to read it again, please do. So… This is the next chapter. I hope you all like it. And review for me please.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

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A brown haired girl with clear violet eyes was walking in the hallway, frowning. _Nah, why did I do it anyway, now I'll have to give Milly ten dollars… That's right gambling leads to misery…_She was groaning to herself quietly as she had to fight very hard against the urge to bang her own head on the wall. Closing her eyes, Shiho drew in a deep breath and tried to think of good things. Yes, and she was heading toward a T-junction, where… **Slipped!**

"**Waaaa!"** She screamed and closed her eyes, ready for the hard and cold bump with the floor. A loud 'thud' was earned, but after some seconds, not feeling the pain, she slowly opened her eyes to find herself on a warm body. _The body feels familiar…_ She thought and looked up, **very **slowly and carefully, until her eyes met with a pair of clear blue ones. _And these eyes are familiar, too…_ Only when her eyes made its way to his hair did she realized the one she was on top of.

"**You!"** Shiho screamed again, quickly got up and dusted herself. True, that man was no one unknown, the first person of her most-wanted-to-kick-ass list.

"What's with you woman? Sleep walker aren't you?" He asked raising his voice and got up while dusted his clothes with pure disgust. It was the second time she bumped into him, well, they sure were arranged to be each other's bumper. And of all people, why didn't the freaking god just choose a nice woman rather than that girl? Yes, the girl looked nothing like a girl, that even Nicol looked more girly than her.

"What the **hell** are you doing in **my** mansion?" She yelled, obviously out of control. Her hair looked as if they were bristling; her eyes were burning with hatred and nothing else.

"Excuse me; can't I just meet your father?" The silver haired man retorted not less angrily. His eyes, also, were burning in fury. Shiho was caught off guard, she was blinking in disbelief and her jaw was half-way dropped.

"So… May I know you name?" She asked, this time softer and in her tone, there was something like… she was puzzled.

"Acting nice now, eh?" He gave a small smirk, "Well, I am Mandarin Warill, and I need to talk to the Prime Minister. Is anything wrong with that?"

Shiho was really irritated by his way of speaking, but as he introduced, he was a mandarin, and she was not that dumb to yell at him once she found out who he really was. _I wish I didn't ask for his name…_ She thought, regretting the stupid question that she blurted out.

"I'm terribly sorry for yelling at you, sir. But… What are you doing here? This is supposed to be the servants' place." She asked, arching an eyebrow. There was sarcasm in her tone, but she kept her face straight.

"Thanks to the god d… good for nothing servants of yours, I was lost for about fifteen minutes now!" He replied, his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance as he hissed through gritted teeth. His fists were clenching and he wanted so badly to punch at something right when the servants were mentioned. Shiho had to fight very hard not to laugh at his anger, instead, she nodded politely:

"So please follow me, I'll lead you to father's room" The silver haired man hesitated, but then he only nodded and walked after the girl. _Maybe she's not that hateful…_ He thought.



"You are having a hard time, I suppose…" A blue haired man who was leaning against the great oak door of Cagalli's room asked in a sneering tone. His eyes were winking at the blonde haired girl mischievously. Cagalli sure didn't like being teased by him, so she winced and called:

"Stop standing there and making fun of me! Come give me a hand!" She was trying to take the ribbon sticking on her hair out unsuccessfully, absolutely not in the good mood to joke with Athrun. Seeing her annoyance, he just smirked and came near the girl, extended his hand:

"Here's my hand, Cagalli." He spoke, pretending to be dumb. Cagalli stared at him for a long while, then slowly and tenderly, she took his hand, lifted it to her mouth… **And gave it a bite! **Athrun was feeling a comfortable shiver running down his spine as the princess's small hands took his and lifted it to her mouth when a sudden pain ran down his spine and to his brain. He yelped and jumped up, looking down on his precious hand, he could see blood dripping from the wound.

"Hey what are you doing?" He yelled and glared at her with bullet-shaped eyes. She was sticking her tongue out at him, hands on her hips:

"Serves you right, Alex!" Cagalli replied sourly and in amusement watched her bodyguard pitying his hand. "For teasing me, that's the least you got. If you do it again, well, prepare for your own funeral!"

"Okay that's right I was teasing you, but you didn't have to bite me that hard, did you?" Athrun protested while sucking the blood on his hand. He was wondering why the girl had to change so quickly, one second she was in a good mood, then another second she could yell at him mercilessly and gave in a bite that could rival the dogs'. The most typical example was: She was on a meeting with some mandarins, and she was smiling cheerfully, for god's sake, right when the old boring men left, her smile failed and she stomped back to her room causing the entire palace to shake violently. If it wasn't for her mood, she would be the most perfect girl in the world!

"Now stop complaining and go to the clinic to treat your wound. Oh, and please call my nanny in, too." She ordered, giggling evilly at the frowning bodyguard who appeared to be walking out of the room in a pretty quick pace.

"Yes yes Miss Fury…" Athrun grunted in his throat as he made his way to the door. Unfortunately, Cagalli heard that and narrowed her eyes dangerously, dark aura from her started to fill the room with its gloominess.

"**What. Did. You. Say?" **She roared, emphasizing each word. Athrun sweat dropped as he heard the sounds that escaped her throat, which were definitely not a human sound.

"Err… Nothing Cagalli…" He replied quickly and ran for his life in lightning speed as there was a real bodyguard-eater princess chasing after him.



"Mister Kira! Where's my Haro?" A pink haired girl yelled from inside her room. Somehow, her voice was still beautiful, and her yelling became no more than a song. She was sitting on her bed combing her hair when suddenly noticed the absence of her favorite toy. Wondering where it could be, she stepped down and asked her brown haired bodyguard who was standing at the door of her bedroom.

"I don't know Lady Lacus! I haven't seen it today!" Kira replied with a frown. Lacus's Haro sure loved to jump around in the mansion, and normally, the lady would force him to look for it for her, which often took him the whole day. _Oh God, please don't make it go so far…_ He prayed silently.

"Huh? Oh my, then let's go and look for it, shall we?" Lacus offered cheerfully as she walked out of her bedroom. She was dressing in an elegant pink dress that went down to her knee, and because of the cold weather, she was having a light purple jacket on.

"Okay…" Kira hesitated, he really hated that; however when he saw Lacus cutely pouting face, his heart couldn't resist, so indeed, he nodded giving in. Just as they were going around the mansion to look for Lacus's Haro, a maid approached them and informed Lacus that her friend Miriallia was visiting.

"Oh really? This is good! Mister Kira, well, uhm, let's go and greet Milly first." The pink haired girl exclaimed with a more than happy tone, and not letting the brunette to answer, she grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the Great hall. There, a short girl was standing humming something to herself. She had short curly brown hair, a pair of crystal clear blue eyes and pink lips that always formed into a smile. Seeing her friend coming, lips breaking into a toothy grin, Miriallia greeted:

"Hey Lacus! Hey Kira!" She ran toward the two with opening arms. When she was a few feet away, Miriallia did an awesome jump and landed on Lacus, who was spreading her arms at the same time. The two fell on the floor, hugging each other giggling.

"It's been a long time…" The pink haired stated as they sat up and let go of each other.

"Yeah, **really** long!" Miriallia answered with a nod. "So… Wanna go out with me today?" She asked cheerfully winking at Lacus and Kira. Her eyes were flashing prettily, and she was offering Lacus her hand.

"Gladly, but Milly… Err… Uhm… You know, Haro is missing again, so Mister Kira and I were looking for it… So…" Lacus furrowed her delicate eyebrows, tapping her chin thoughtfully with her finger. She was considering whether to continue looking for the small troublesome toy or go out with her long-time-no-see friend.

"Well, easy, why don't you just ask the maids to look for it instead of doing it yourself?" The brown haired girl suggested clapping her hand in excitement. Taking a quick glance at Kira who was trying to prevent a sighing sound from escaping his mouth, she immediately knew that Kira was sick of looking for the missing Haro from time to time and decided to help him.

"Not a bad idea I guess, so… Okay, it's decided. Let's go!" Lacus exclaimed and gently held Miriallia's hand, skipped out along with the sighing-in-relief bodyguard. But just then, Miriallia's good mood vanished as she caught the sight of a blonde. Her eyes twitched as she drew in a deep breath.

"**You!" **She roared at the top of her lungs, sending a buzz into Lacus and Kira's ears. The innocent man held his head up slowly and looked at her with puzzled violet eyes. Making her way to the tanned blonde, she grabbed his collar and shook him violently:

"**What the h…** What are you doing** here?**" The brown haired queried furiously while big sweat drops appeared on the two left's forehead.

"Err… Milly? May you calm down a little? He's the new gardener I have just hired. What's wrong with him?" Lacus asked trying to cool the steaming girl down. When the words struck through her head, Miriallia stared at Lacus in disbelief, and then back at the poor man, her eyes were as large as the saucers. Just then the man recalled his meeting with her and slapped his forehead:

"Oh, Miss 'You', I remember you now. Still have eyes for me, eh?" He teased and smirked at Miriallia who was appeared to be **absolutely** out of control. With a perfect smack, he was kissing the ground, eyes widening as blood was dripping down from his head. Lacus and Kira stared at them with blinking eyes, and only until the fierce girl had stormed away did they dare to come near Dearka, who was keeping his posture still, not being able to even flip.

"Dearka, what did you do to her?" Kira whispered as he lifted the tanned blonde up. With a wry smile, Dearka answered:

"Love at first slap…"

To be continued.




	9. Secret Feelings

A/N: Sorry if this has been taking a little long… Well, anyway, I was so depressed because of the little amount of reviews I received from last chapter. Okay, sorry for the complaints, this is the next chapter, I hope you will all enjoy it and review for me… Thanks. (I guess this is the mushiest chapter that I have ever made.)

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.



In a large, luxurious and bright room, there was a blonde sitting on her king-sized bed crying silently. Her hands were covering her little face, small shoulders trembling; tears were flowing down on her ruddy cheeks. The room was filled with her constant crying sounds, when a 'crack' was made. Another blonde entered the room, escorted by a blue haired.

"Oh, Stellar, why are you crying **again?**" The newcomer asked with concern in her amber eyes. She slowly walked toward the bed where the little girl sat and hugged Stellar in a soothing way. The blue haired, who was gazing at the crying blonde, followed her suit.

"Stellar has nobody to play with…" Stellar whined, wiping her tears. She looked at Cagalli with teary violet eyes, as another tear fell down. Cagalli lifted her hand up to wipe it away and told the one who seemed to be her little sister:

"So… How about going out with us today?" She smiled warmly while the little girl looked confused.

"Huh? Will the doctors allow me?" She asked back arching her elegant eyebrows. _My, she looks so cute with her face like that. _The blue haired thought, jaw half-dropped. _Extremely like Cagalli…_

"Only if you promise not to run or do anything involves your physical strength." She replied, tucking a strand of Stellar's hair behind her ear. Staring lovingly at her sister's face, Cagalli gently held her up.

"That's great, Cagalli! Let's go!" Stellar nodded enthusiastically, standing up unsteadily. Only when she had completely stood up on her feet did she realize the presence of the blue haired in the room. "Uhm… Is that Cagalli's friend?" She asked, pointing to the stranger while her eyes were studying 'her' from head to toe. 'She' was wearing a thick black jacket, a green T-shirt and a pair of black pants. The jacket was so big that it covered almost her entire top, but still, Stellar could see that 'she' had quite a tall figure.

"Yep." Cagalli answered grinning widely. _Stellar sure will like Alex…_ She thought evilly, narrowing her eyes. However, somewhere deep inside, she wasn't very happy about that thought, but she shrugged it off mentally anyway.

"Can Stellar have a question?" Stellar asked, looking at the blue haired with sparkling eyes. She was dying to ask 'her' that question since it was so strange to see someone like that.

"Sure, so what do you want to ask me, Princess Stellar?" The stranger smiled and asked back in a soft tone. Although it was not as soft as a normal girl's voice, it was still not like a man's.

"Err… Miss… Why are you not wearing a dress or skirt or something like that… Stellar means… Even Cagalli has to wear a dress!" The little girl asked innocently, pointing at her sister, whose jaw was on the ground. The one who was being asked, also, widened 'her' eyes in shock. Seeing the two's strange reactions, Stellar blinked and looked at them with questioning eyes.

"Did Stellar say anything wrong?" She questioned, amused. Never before had she seen anyone who kept his/her posture still for over one minute, not blinking, or even breathing. Finally, a chuckle escaped from the amber eyed girl, and gradually, it turned into a hearty laugh. Cagalli laughed so hard that she fell off the bed and rolled on the ground like a maniac.

"Huh?" The little girl kept blinking, obviously clueless. "Cagalli, what's the matter?"

"I… Stellar… Just ask… him…" Cagalli somehow managed to answer her sister between laughter while at the same time busy gasping for air.

"Him?" Her little sister repeated, not believing what she was hearing. Looking around the room, she couldn't find any 'him' that she could ask. Glancing back at the blue haired and 'her' features, Stellar considered whether 'she' was a real girl or a boy. Long hair… Check. Big eyes… Check. Beautiful face… Check, maybe even more beautiful than Cagalli. Feminine figure… Check. Pearl-like skin… Check. Pants… Something was not right there…

"Stellar… Now I shall seriously introduce you: This is my new bodyguard and my new friend, **Alex Dino**." Cagalli stood up unsteadily from the ground with the help of the bed's edge, arms still clutching her stomach difficultly. Her hair was a mess from the rolling before and her breath was interrupted.

"A boy?" Stellar questioned, eyes widened in shock and surprise. She turned to the blue and observed **'him'** again.

"Yeah, a **boy**, one hundred percent…" Cagalli couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Meanwhile, Athrun couldn't snap himself out of the state of shock he was currently in. _Gosh,_ _I'm turning gay! _He shrieked to himself mentally. Yes, he once was mistaken with a girl, a hot chick to be exact, but the second time? He didn't think he was that girlish…

"Stellar… having… heart attack…" The little princess announced weakly as she fell back down on her bed, hands clutching her left rib-cage.

"**Doctor!"**



The brown haired boy was kissing a pink haired lady passionately. His tongue was exploring every inch inside her warm mouth. After a long while, they broke the kiss for air.

"Kira… Do you think it's okay?" The girl asked while staring into her lover's profound violet eyes. Kira leaned his forehead against the girl's and smiled:

"What do you mean, Lacus?" He asked back, his thumb was caressing the girl's face, feeling her soft skin against his hand.

"Our relationship…" Lacus replied looking down. Suddenly she felt her shoes very interesting to look at.

"It will be alright, don't worry, my lady. I will always be at your side." Kira assured with another smile, his eyes still didn't leave the pink haired girl's graceful face. Lacus looked up, her blue eyes met Kira's violet ones, and she felt really safe at his side. All of the concern in her heart just vanished whenever she was with him. Kira lifted Lacus's small chin up and licked his lips. She immediately knew what he wanted and closed her eyes, ready for another kiss from him. He leaned down, slowly, their lips were only millimeters away when a male voice echoed:

"Ahem!" In no time they both turned toward the voice to find a smirking blonde who was gazing at them with amusement in his eyes. Faster than lightning, Kira and Lacus separated, looking away blushing furiously. They both were cursing the spoilsport mentally for ruining their beautiful moment.

"Excuse me, but I think you should find some more private place to make out, well, at least not in the garden especially while I'm doing my work." He mocked playfully, winking at the couple. The only one who could be that stupid was Dearka Elsman, who else?

"You spoilsport, it serves you right that Milly slapped you twice." Lacus grumbled, glaring at Dearka. Kira, also, was shooting him death glares at the same time. If glares could kill, Dearka must have been a corpse after one millisecond being under their bloodshot eyes. He swallowed difficultly and sweat-dropped.

"Eh heh heh… If you don't like my presence, I'll just go…" He laughed nervously, turning away with the lightning speed and ran out of the garden for his own dear life.

"Bastard…" Kira grunted, his want to continue making out with Lacus dispersed like the soap bubbles and so did Lacus's.

"Lady Haww should have slapped him harder so that some of his teeth break off, and so he wouldn't be able to speak **anything!**" He continued his whining lecture while sighing heartily. Lacus just giggled at her lover's childish reaction.

"Yeah, that's right…"

_Flashback…_

_After his wound on the head being treated, Dearka started to tell Lacus and Kira about his first meet with Miriallia._

"_One day before the day I went to Lady Lacus's manor to take the job as a gardener, I met her on my way to the market to buy some new clothes. To be exact, I bumped into her causing her to fell on the ground. I did apologize and helped her up, but she kept on yelling at me. And when I saw her angry face… Erm… I thought she was really beautiful. I couldn't help but leaned down to kiss her… I thought every woman would love to be kissed by a gentleman like me. However, she forcefully pushed me aside and gave me a slap that my jaw wanted to say goodbye to me! What a fierce girl…" Dearka sighed, rubbing his sore head which was bandaged carefully by Lacus and Kira. Meanwhile, the two just burst into laugh, especially Kira who was rolling on the floor like a crazy man. Even Lacus had to clutch her side so that she wouldn't fall on the floor like Kira- that was not the right thing for a gentle lady to do. Seeing the two's reaction, Dearka winced:_

"_Hey, what's so funny? Haven't you heard about love at first sight? You are not helping!" He pouted, stood up and stomped away like a big child._

_End of flashback…_

"Oh that was so funny…" Lacus, who appeared to be laughing, clung onto Kira arm for support. She was laughing so hard that her stomach actually hurt. Kira was also laughing, but he didn't have the effect like Lacus.

"Okay okay…" She spoke at last, when the laughter died down. Looking back at herself, she was in Kira's arms, and Lacus blushed in a deep shade of red when she realized it. But after making sure that Dearka wasn't there anymore, she started to relax and rested her head on Kira's firm shoulder. She could feel his embrace tightened around her. They were in their own little world, enjoying every millisecond of the comfortable feeling being together… **Making out contest round two, ready, set, go!**



"Alex is turning gay! Alex is turning gay!" Cagalli yelled playfully when she and Athrun were alone in her room. The room was sound-proof, so of course no one could hear it, but Athrun's face had already turned as red as a boiled lobster.

"Don't mention it!" He shouted, jumping at the blonde and pressed her down. The two fell on Cagalli's bed, rolled and rolled. Eventually, they ended up with Athrun being on top of her. She was too busy blushing that couldn't do anything and so did Athrun as they realized their postures.

"Beg you, Cagalli, just don't tell anyone about today's incident!" He lowered his head and whispered into her ear, his breath was tickling the sensitivity of it and she blushed deeper at that. Then he backed away a little, only a little so that he could observe the girl's face clearly. His eyes were drowned into the girl's deep amber ones and so were hers. But staring at his handsome face just made her blush more, so the only thing she could do was nod, so that he would let go of her. After nodding, Cagalli closed her eyes, waiting for the weight on her body to shift away, but a few minutes had passed, and realizing that it was still there, she opened her eyes again. To her great surprise, she saw Athrun's handsome face leaning closer to hers; his eyes were half-closed. Cagalli's heartbeats increased uncontrollably as she realized what he was doing. In every part of her body, she could feel the want to let him press his soft lips against hers, but her mind kept telling her that it was not the right thing to do. It was high time she decided, let him kiss her or not? One second of hesitating, she would indeed be kissed by him, someone she had merely known for a week. Not good… Really not good… Drawing in a deep breath, she opened her mouth:

"Uhm… Alex?" Her voice was trembling and her breath was interrupted. But although her voice was no louder than a mosquito's hum, Athrun immediately was snapped out of his state. Blushing like a tomato, he jumped back, completely away from the girl, his eyes widening. Never before had he felt like that, he just couldn't stop himself from kissing the princess as he saw the look on her face and her blush. She looked so cute, no, beautiful and kissable, her lips were the ones that every man would die for. Slapping himself mentally, Athrun slowly climbed down to the floor from the bed, and Cagalli was a little disappointed at that, but she immediately snapped out of it. However, it felt just so right… So right that they were covered in each other's warmth, both of them knew it, but they tried to hold themselves back with all their might… So right, but just not right at all… The distance between them was too large…

She was bending down to hide the obvious blush on her face, which made her extremely cute in his eyes. Regaining his composure, Athrun stood straight back, but he didn't dare to look at the princess anymore. In his rib-cage, his heart was still beating fast and crazily.

"Your afternoon snack is on the table, Princess." He informed her while the girl only sighed. The tone he was using, the way he was talking to her, both of them were too formal, but he was scared that if he talked to her in an informal way again, he might not be able to hold himself back. Knowing it, Cagalli didn't even bother to be angry at him, the only thing she could do was lower her eyes so that she wouldn't have to look straight at him anymore, and, with any luck, she would be able to recover from the state before, when he almost kissed her.

"Uhm… I think… I… Ah… I don't… need… Uhm… I don't need it…" Cagalli stammered badly, but before she could do anything else, her stomach had already protested by growling loudly asking for food. She had been running around the whole morning because of Stellar- her little sister- who had a heart disease. After hearing the truth that Athrun was a boy, she had had a heart-attack which really concerned Cagalli. Fortunately, after a while of checking, the doctor had told her that Stellar would be okay, and only until then Cagalli was relieved.

"…" Athrun was trying his best not to laugh out loud as the princess blushed and got down of the bed to go to the small mahogany table to have her cake. It was a lovely chocolate cake with peanut pieces scattered on it. Slowly, she picked up a small spoon and started to dig in.

"You know what; I don't really know why people just love to mistake me with the girls." In an attempt to make the atmosphere between him and the princess less awkward, Athrun, also started his 'gender history', "There has been a man that has said that I was **a hot chick**. I think that… **Ack!"** However, before he could finish his sentence, a spoonful of cake was inserted into his mouth that he nearly choked.

"Piece of cake to shut you up…" The princess giggled at the still-stunned bodyguard as she drew the spoon out. The piece of chocolate melted in his mouth, sweeter than everything that would ever be…

Is it right? …

To be continued…

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	10. Shinn met Stellar, Yuuna's arrival

A/N: Okay, chapter 10 is coming! Thank you for reading, please enjoy this and review for me, again, thanks a lot. My, I think I'm spoiled, just read this chapter and you'll see.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

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"Princess Cagalli, Sir Seiran is moving in in one day!" One of the maids exclaimed excitedly as the blonde's jaw hit the ground and her eyes became as big as the saucers.

"**What?"** She shrieked in disbelief, hands holding the maid's collar, shaking her in a **very** violent way. Her unexpected reaction startled not only the maid but also her bodyguard, who was standing behind her.

"I… I mean, Sir Seiran is moving in tomorrow, Princess. What is wrong?" The poor maid turned pale as she saw Cagalli's eyes nearly popped out of her orbits. Every of her hair seemed to freeze as her entire body shook slightly. "Are you alright? You don't look so well, Princess."

Not answering the horrified maid, Cagalli let go of her collars and slapped her own face, hard.

"This is a dream… Only a dream…" She murmured under her breath, still shocked. She hadn't allowed that bastard to move in, had she? And she would never allow him to flirt with her, no way! However, he was still her fiancé, and that was an inevitable truth that she could never change.

"**I'm not letting him in!" **She roared at the top of her lungs, as to get over the nerves she was currently experiencing, and therefore made a strong impact on everyone's eardrums.

"But he said that he had the permission from the Emperor…" The girl announced with a trembling voice while Cagalli was snarling at her. "I am sorry Princess, but I think I must leave…" She excused herself quickly and ran away before being eaten alive by the fierce princess.

"Uhm… Do you think you are okay?" Athrun asked her with a voice that was half worried and half scared. He sweated as the girl turned to him with bloodshot eyes. _Oh no, not again…_

"**The hell I am!"** She screeched into his ear and stormed away causing the whole palace to shake. _It's a miracle that I survived after one week playing the role of her bodyguard… _He thought wiping a big sweat drop away from his forehead.

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A black haired guard was on his patrol around the palace of princess Stellar. Whistling some sad tunes to himself, he made his way toward the princess's room. His heart sank down as he recalled every of the sad memories he had. _Mother… Sister…_

Suddenly, he heard quiet footsteps heading toward him, and got startled. Thinking it was an intruder, he hid behind a big marble pillar to observe the stranger. In the darkness, his red eyes flashed up dangerously like a beast's. When the stranger was near enough, the guard jumped out abruptly and grabbed his/her mouth. A small gasp was heard, and he could feel the body shivering in his arms. Absolutely not an intruder… Letting go of the stranger, the guard took a clear look at her face. She was pretty beautiful with sparkling violet eyes and blonde hair that covered the trace of her face. Somehow, she strangely looked like Princess Cagalli, and that could only mean one thing.

"Prin… Princess Stellar…" Shinn could feel his heart stopped beating for a second. He was in utter shock that couldn't help staring at the girl, who was at the same time gazing at him with frightened eyes, too. Forgetting that he was currently holding her, Shinn stood still like a frozen statue. Sweat was wetting his hands and his back.

"Who… Who are you?" Gathering all of her guts, Stellar managed to ask with a trembling tone while swallowing a hard lump in her throat. Her heart was pounding loudly in her rib-cage. She was rather surprised that she didn't have a heart-attack despite almost being choked by the stranger.

"I… I am terribly sorry Princess! It's just that… I… I thought you were an intruder…" Shinn stammered ever so badly, and looked down, seeing that he was holding the girl's thin shoulders, he let go promptly with a jump. His back was soaked with his own sweat and so were his hair and his hands. "I shall take my leave…" He mumbled quickly and turned away as fast as he could, he was at the verge of running away.

"**Wait!"** Stellar's voice suddenly caught him back. He froze in his current posture. Swallowing hard, Shinn slowly turned his head around to face the princess.

"Yes Princess?" His lips curved into a wry smile while he shut his eyes completely, not daring to look at the blonde standing in front of him.

"Uhm… You are a guard, right?" The little girl asked reluctantly, cocking her head to one side. Opening his eyes slowly, Shinn looked at Stellar with slightly surprised eyes.

"Yes I am." He answered shortly, wondering what the princess wanted from him. He did apologize, and it was an accident anyway, so there was no reason for her to throw a tantrum at him, right? Besides, she didn't look like a hothead, not at all…

"So… Can you spend some times with Stellar? Stellar can't sleep, and has nothing to do at the moment." The little maiden demanded looking away blushing slightly. Asking a total stranger to spend some times with was awkward to her, and she couldn't help but blush for that stranger was a boy. Well, at least all boyish, not like that bodyguard of her sister. (A/N: Ooppss… Sorry I didn't mean to insult Athrun…)

"Princess Stellar? What do you want me to do again, please?" Shinn's eyes widened in disbelief as there was a buzzing in his ears. Never could he imagine that the princess would ask him for something like that.

"Uhm… Stellar means… Stellar wants you to spend some times with Stellar, but if you are busy then it's okay." The girl answered bending down, playing with her fingers. After quite a long while, recovering from his shocked state, Shinn gave her an assuring smile.

"Yes, I would be honored to talk to you, Princess." He replied, walking toward the princess. Upon hearing that, Stellar looked up from her bare feet and returned his smile with a toothy huge grin. They walked side by side to the garden. The faint moonlight was shining over everything and under the weak light, the garden seemed so peaceful. His cold and hard heart softened when his eyes were taking glances overall the entire place.

"Are you cold, Princess?" He asked the girl softly, but then he couldn't locate his mouth back when he turned to her. Under the moon, she looked like an angel in her white robe. Her hair was flying in the breeze, her eyes looking at him tenderly. Shinn was totally freaked out by her beauty and couldn't take his eyes off her graceful face or her slim figure. He knew he was being rude, but just couldn't hold himself back.

"No, Stellar isn't. Uhm… Mister… May Stellar know your name?" The princess asked shyly while blushing slightly under his gaze. She turned away a little, didn't dare to look at him or his flashing eyes anymore. _His eyes are so enticing…_

"My name is Shinn Asuka, Princess…" He replied, also turning away, feeling some heat rushed to his cheeks. Awkward silence was the only thing that was held between them…



The next morning…

"Sir Seiran!" All the maids and servants came out to greet their 'soon-to-be master'. A young man was standing at the entrance of the palace, looking around with twitched blue eyes.

"Why isn't Cagalli here to greet me?" He asked a servant with an aggressive tone while brushing some low strands of hair back. His question sure annoyed the servant, but he just answered respectfully:

"Princess Cagalli doesn't feel well today, so she is staying in, Sir." Yuuna nodded and without any other words, he walked into the palace, followed by a heap of servants carrying his stuffs. Walking directly to Cagalli's room, he entered without even knocking on the door, thinking it was not needed for he was her fiancé, and for god's sake, in front of his eyes was… Cagalli… with only her undergarments on! Her delicious looking body really did freak him out. Not being able to take his eyes off her, Yuuna slowly moved near her while Cagalli still didn't notice his illegal presence.

"Cagalli dear…" Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, Yuuna whispered into Cagalli's ear, making her jump out of her skin.

"**Arrgghhh…" **Cagalli couldn't help but let out a scream in horror. Her scream startled not only Yuuna but also everyone in the palace. After recovering her composure, Cagalli pushed the purple haired pervert away forcefully, causing him to stumble back. In no time, she picked up her clothes and hid her body behind those, eyes still shooting the intruder death glares.

"**What the hell are you doing in here?" **The blonde hissed through gritted teeth while her face was turning as red as a tomato. Her entire body was shaking and her eyes were narrowing dangerously at Yuuna.

"What? Can't **your** fiancé hug you?" The purple haired bastard retorted smirking hatefully and crossed his arms. But just as he leaned on the doorframe, a firm hand flew out and grabbed the back of his neck.

"What do **you** want?" A cold voice echoed, much to Cagalli's relief. Turning around slowly, Yuuna finally came face to face with the owner of the voice, who appeared to be a blue haired guy with half of his face covered by a ridiculously large pair of sunglasses.

"I should be the one who ask you that question. What are **you** doing here?" He snapped back, but his voice trailed a bit, only a little, however it was more than enough to reveal the truth that he was scared anyway.

"He's my bodyguard who will protect me from perverts like you." Cagalli answered sarcastically before the bodyguard could say anything. "And now **Sir Seiran**, may you get out so that I can finish changing? I'm starting to feel cold."

"Fine…" Yuuna muttered angrily while stomping out. But before he was away, Yuuna turned his head at the spoilsport, who was apparently glaring at him, and narrowed his eyes wickedly.

_Fcking bastard, you dare to ruin my business, you have to pay for the consequences…_ He thought while clenching his fists.

"Are you okay?" Stepping into the room, Athrun asked his princess with a worried tone, "Did he do anything to you?"

Shaking her head, Cagalli abruptly dropped herself on her bed as she let out a sigh in relief. Closing her eyes, she murmured:

"Thank you, Alex. Without you, I don't know what he might have done…"

"It's my duty, Princess, so just... Nah, I'd better go now…" Athrun replied modestly, nodding his head and turned away on his heels, his face flushed a bit at the sight of Cagalli's half naked form. Snapping her eyes open, Cagalli called:

"**Hang on there!**" And as a result, almost immediately, Athrun stopped on his track and turned his head toward her:

"Yes?" He wondered why she called him back as he arched his eyebrows. He saved her from the pervert; he was done, so why did she bother to call him back? Not to mention that she was still changing… And Athrun blushed a little deeper at the thought.

"Can you… Uhm… Wait here while I go and change in the bathroom? You see… I mean… I just want you to watch out for me if he returns…" She bent her head down, her voice trailed. Never before had she been so embarrassed. Nearly naked in front of **two men**? But anyway 'Alex' was much nicer than the pervert; well; at least he didn't jump at her like a hungry carnivore jumping at its prey.

"Err… Alright…" Athrun hesitated, but then he nodded his head tiredly and walked toward the door. Leaning on it, he closed his eyes as the princess walked past him into the bathroom, still having her body half-covered by the clothes.

_Such a good body she has… I wonder if… **No Athrun Zala! Snap out of it!** You are an assassin and you are here to complete your mission, not to flirt with the girl! You are so doomed! Maybe you are turning into a pervert, just like that bastard…Being a gay… Maybe is better…**Dmmit!**_ Athrun slapped himself on the face, which was totally red at the thought. But however hard he tried, Cagalli's clothe-less form just kept on playing over and over again in his head. Luckily, right when he was on the verge of banging his own head against the wall, the bathroom door flung open.

"What are you doing?" The girl blinked innocently at the posture of her bodyguard. His head was millimeters away from the wall, one of his hands was clutching his head, the other was on the wall, his eyes were shut tightly and his eyebrows were in a knot. Athrun stopped in no time as he heard the voice of his princess. Being thought as a gay was bad enough; he didn't and would never want to be thought as a maniac also.

"Eh heh heh, it's nothing Princess, now shall we go?" He laughed nervously, standing straight again while trying to make the girl forget about his weird behavior.

"You sure you're fine?" Cagalli asked again, being concerned by the strange look on his face. He seemed a bit flushed.

"Yes, I am perfectly fine! Let's go!" He grinned dryly, stepping out of the room. Following her bodyguard, Cagalli dragged a small smile out of her lips. _Thanks a lot, Alex…_

To be continued.

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	11. Slave boys

A/N: Hi everybody! This is chapter 11! Oh I'm so happy since I can continue writing after having those awful tests! Stupid tests I'll say! And before I die when my parents know the results, I want to update as many chapters as I can. So here it goes. Read and review please, thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

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"**Checkmate!"** Shiho exclaimed happily, clapping her hands in utter happiness. A grin appeared across her face, showing her beautifully-shaped teeth. Her eyes were flashing triumphantly as the silver haired guy sitting across her narrowed his eyes. Yes, Yzak Joule was at the verge of cursing.

"**There**, you lost! Now you have to do me a favor as we have dealt before the game!" She smirked slyly, folding her arms in front of her chest. And he was cursing for real.

"So** Miss I-am-a-jerk**, what do you want me to do?" He asked sarcastically, clearing the chessboard. And as he saw dark aura coming out of the girl's ears, a glint of playfulness flashed in his eyes. He didn't know why, but ever since he met Shiho, teasing her had become one of his hobbies, apart from strangling Dearka to death and bickering with Athrun. However sometimes he just got kicked ass by her, and the other times he heard her swearing at him. But still, it was too fun to stop doing.

"Let's see, how I can make you suffer… **Yes! I have it!** You will have to be my slave in one day!" Shiho snapped her fingers, giggling evilly as she blurted it out.

"**What?" **He shrieked in disbelief, afraid that his ears were failing him. The chessboard on his hands suddenly felt very heavy that he could drop it at any time. _Absolutely not good…_

"You heard me." The mischievous girl stuck her tongue at him while standing up slowly and pulled her fringes. "It's eight o'clock in the morning, so you are going to be my slave until eight o'clock tomorrow morning. That's it, gets?"

All Yzak could do was to groan. _Stupid you, Joule…_

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A blonde haired princess was practicing her martial art with her bodyguard, since it was good for her to exercise sometimes. It had been thirty minutes, and they were both panting heavily but of course, the one who was more tired was Cagalli. The practice was not over, not just yet. She tried to kick his neck, but he dodged it easily. In return, he did a karate chop at her left shoulder, but she took a step to the right and punched back.

_Pretty good that she is…_Athrun commented mentally as he parried her blow successfully and was about to twist her wrist when she withdrew her arm and spun around, blowing a diagonal chop at his head. Not hesitating, he grabbed her heel and pulled her down, so that she ended on the ground being locked by him.

"Wow, you are really amazing!" Cagalli breathed as he slowly let go of her.

"So are you." Athrun returned her comment with a smile and extended his hand. Hesitantly, Cagalli took it and gradually, Athrun pulled her up. The feeling of his hand was too warm that she never wanted to let go, and that was why she didn't want to take his hand. She wondered why she felt so, but inside, she had already known the answer for it. However, she just didn't want to admit it, maybe because of her ego, or her uncertainness, or because of both them? She really didn't know exactly, human's emotions were something that was very complicated, and you can't possibly explain them.

"So, what's your plan today?" Athrun's question pulled her back to reality. She blinked twice, apparently couldn't catch him.

"Huh?" Her reply told him that something that was not right with her, and concern in no time took its chance to fill his mind.

"Are you alright? I asked you what your plan was today." He stopped on his track and looked carefully at her face. She seemed a bit flushed, her lips were pursed together, her eyebrows furrowed and she was clenching her fists so tight that her knuckles went white. _Yes, she definitely looks cute in that form._

"Ah yeah I'm okay. And for today, I want to visit a friend of mine, and you are coming with me. Is that okay to you?" She answered curtly and quickened her pace, leaving the bodyguard behind, dumbfounded. _What's with her today?_



"Hey slave boy; we are visiting Lady Clyne, so prepare the carriage for me." Shiho ordered in a more-than-arrogant tone, smirking. Meanwhile the 'slave boy' just sighed, frowning.

"Hey don't you think I have political problems to deal with other than to merely serve you all day like this?" He retorted bitterly, clenching his fists.

"Serves you right!" The sly girl sneered, patting his back teasingly. Truth to be told, after the game, she had been torturing him for almost an hour or so. From cleaning her room, which was a total mess, to making her snacks, he had to do all those, and one hour seemed to be a century to him. "Now get ready, slave boy."

"Yes sir, I mean Ma'am…" He muttered, annoyed, but then changed the word 'sir' into 'ma'am' immediately as the girl was shooting death glares toward him. She sure was being his toughest opponent in the glaring part. _This is going to be a long day. Oh yeah, and hope that 'Lady Clyne' is someone else, otherwise it will be…_

Meanwhile, at a mansion in the peaceful and leafy suburb…

"Hey Kira, Cagalli and Shiho is visiting us today, aren't they?" A pink haired lady asked a brown haired boy, who was standing behind her. They were in a garden with flowers everywhere, and the girl was sitting on the grass reading a book.

"Yes, and they are supposed to arrive at about ten o'clock, Lady Clyne." Kira replied politely, nodding his head, though the girl couldn't see it.

"Oh come one, Kira. I have told you that when it's just the two of us, you don't need to be like that. You know, I mean acting like my bodyguard or something… Just act normally; after all you are my boyfriend…" She corrected, turning to Kira with furrowed eyebrows. And she could see a big sweat drop forming on his forehead as he nodded again.

"Am I that scary?" She giggled, closing the book and stood up, cupped his cheek with her small hand. Her creamy skin was so soft and fair; and the feeling of it sent a shiver down his spine, although they had done a lot more than just holding hands. (A/N: Hey don't think anything nasty, people.)

"No, not at all, my lady!" He shook his head furiously, holding the girl's hand with his.

"Alright then. Let's get prepared." She grinned toothily and they ran back inside, smiling happily, hand in hand.

To be continued.

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	12. What the?

A/N: Oh, hey, it's me here! Sorry for the short chapter, but I was too uninspired back then. Well, the next one is here! Please read and review for me. Thanks a lot! And yeah, I'm kind of having **huge** blocks in my mind, care for help?

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

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"Hi Ca…" Lacus was skipping out to the gate to greet her friends, but just as she was opening her mouth for a warm greeting, utter shock overwhelmed her and so her jaw remained open. _A… Athrun?_

"Hey Lacus!" With a more-than-happy voice, Cagalli yelled and gave the pink haired girl a bear hug. "Doing well?"

"Ah… Yes…" Still couldn't get her train of thoughts straight, Lacus somehow managed to answer the blonde. Her eyes kept staring at the one following Cagalli, who appeared to be staring back at her and her bodyguard, too. His eyes, like Lacus', were as big as the dining plates.

"Lacus… Clyne?" He was also in a state of shock, but there was no doubt the girl hugging his Princess was his ex. His words seemed to strike Cagalli.

"Oh, you two know each other?" She asked the two, slightly surprised. That was right, never before had she thought that one of the noblest ladies of Orb had known her bodyguard, who appeared to be quite 'unknown'. And even more, she could feel something hard poking at her chest. Her heart was slightly held with jealousy, or was it? The way the two staring at each other just made her mad, and she definitely didn't like it. But however hard she tried, she couldn't shrug it off. _Am I already that love sick?_ She questioned herself, wincing in infuriation.

"Y… Yes, kind of…" Lacus replied lamely, blinking her eyes. Trying her best to regain her composure, she took Cagalli's hand and led her into the building. And as she was exchanging a questioning glance with Kira, Athrun followed Cagalli. He was walking side by side with Kira, Lacus' bodyguard, the one he had known more than enough, and they exchanged looks too. _What the…?_ The three thought, feeling puzzled because of each other's presence. Those gestures didn't go unnoticed by Cagalli, who was peering at them with suspicious eyes.

Walking into the lovely living room of the mansion that had a view of the beautiful garden, they took their seats. It was not a very big room, but snug and elegant with the pink color everywhere. Even the sofas they were sitting in were light pink.

"Oh, Shiho hasn't arrived yet, has she?" Cagalli asked, dragging a small smile out. Luckily she was calm enough not to ask them the main question right away.

"She's always like that, remember?" The hostess returned the blonde's smile, "Milk tea?"

"Sure, thanks." Cagalli answered, nodding happily. Aside from hot chocolate, milk tea was her favorite drink. Remembered about her bodyguard who was standing behind the sofa, she turned back and asked:

"Hey, don't you want to take a seat and have some tea with us?"

"Yeah? Uh… Well, maybe… But that's not…" He tried to protest, but for his head was still dizzy from the shocking meeting with his old friends, he couldn't speak properly. His words sure did worry Cagalli, who was gazing at him with concerned eyes.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked again, standing up. When she was about to take a hold of his shoulder, he abruptly took a step back, absentmindedly. His reaction surprised the princess, well, maybe she was hurt, too, but she hid them successfully. "Just sit down, it's not like we are at my place, so that's okay. You don't have to obey the etiquette like that." She ordered, drawing her hand back and pointed to the armchair next to hers.

"Ah, excuse me, Princess, but may I have a talk with your bodyguard?" Kira interrupted politely before Athrun could answer. Cagalli winced a little as she heard that, but after a few seconds, she nodded her head quietly sitting back down, and in no time Kira grabbed Athrun's arm and dragged him out.

"Well, while waiting for them to finish their talk, shall we have a small private chat?" Lacus suggested as she handed Cagalli a small cup of steaming tea. She faked her beautiful smile without difficulty, although her heart was beating faster, hoping that Kira would make it clear for her. She was still dazed that Athrun was in Orb, and was Cagalli's bodyguard to be added. _He's here, so does that mean…?_



"Why are you here?" The two boys asked in unison the moment they were completely out and after making sure that no one was overhearing.

"You answer first!" Again, they spoke in unison, not missing a word. After hearing the same sentence from each other for the second time, they paused, then burst out laughing.

"Oh Kira, after all those years and still, we are the same…" Athrun however managed to comment, as he was clutching his side.

"Ah yeah, sure we still are…" Kira agreed, chuckling. The serious atmosphere between them vanished quickly after their free and innocent laughter. They were themselves again, like they used to be just some years before the war broke out. After the laughter had died down, they started to stand straight back again.

"So, mind telling me first?" Athrun finally asked, smiling.

"Well, fine. After the war broke out, we had to make our choice, to join the military or not, and I chose not to, because I didn't want to help them kill innocent people. As if Lacus could read my mind, she agreed with me. But because her family was one of the most powerful influences, so the Supreme Council forced her to use her power in the war. She objected to it, and decided to run away with me. We decided to go to a peaceful place in Orb, so that we wouldn't be involved in the war, although we knew it was very selfish of us, we just couldn't help. And we have had peace for all those times. Sure the Council **did** search for us and they **did** want to kill us both, but I guess they just couldn't find us. And now can I hear your story?" Kira told Athrun his story calmly, but when he mentioned the war, his voice became a little sad and trembling.

"Oh yeah, while you were running away from the war, I joined the ZAFT and became a member of FAITH. Later on, I was appointed to the assassin squad, and gradually became an ace there. I didn't want to boast, but yeah that's the truth. And now I'm here because I have received a new assignment." Athrun answered dryly, having difficulty explaining. There was a hard lump in his throat, and it hurt when he talked about his mission.

"I see, but well, does that have anything to deal with another war?" Kira asked, seriously and nervously. His hands were sweating and his heart was beating faster than before. In the silence of the garden, it looked as if they could hear his heart beats. He would never want another bloody war to break out, what was the purpose of that nonsense killing after all? He really didn't know, and maybe no one would ever know. The greed of man? Or was it the lack of love in those cold, emotionless and hard hearts? The questions were remained unanswered.

"Sorry, but I can't answer you, that's a secret so I'm not allowed to spill." Athrun refused, feeling rather guilty. After all Kira was his best friend, they had known each other since they were kindergarteners, they had grown up together, they had played and learnt together, and they had done many things together… until when the war took place. Kira suddenly disappeared from PLANTS, along with the famous Lacus Clyne, but people just didn't know how and why. Several years had passed, and Athrun seemed to think that they had died somewhere, until then.

"It's okay, I understand. I just hope that you won't do anything to create a new war…" Kira's voice trailed as he spoke, his eyes were gazing at nowhere, and he stood still, just like a statue. His brown hair was flying freely in the cold winter wind, and it gave Athrun the feeling that… Kira might have changed, little or much.

"Uhm, well, how is it going between you and Lacus lately? You two seem to have a relationship, don't you?" Athrun suddenly changed the category, not wanting to drive in anymore. His question worked. Kira blushed immediately as he hit Athrun on the shoulder.

"Hey!" He hissed, sweats were forming on his forehead while the other boy laughed and laughed at his friend's embarrassment. At that Kira hit him even harder, so Athrun frowned:

"Oh hey **stop it!** That hurts!" He yelped, rubbing his shoulder. Well, he was indeed wrong; Kira sure hadn't changed a bit.

"Well, let's go in and have some tea with them, maybe they are wondering what has been taking us so long, and I don't want to be thought that we are both gays. I mean, that's true you are a gay, but… **Ouch!**" Kira sneered, but then yelped and jumped up in pain as Athrun kicked him on the shank. With bullet-shaped eyes, Athrun glared at his best friend before heading back for the living room where they ladies were waiting for them.

"Oops, I almost forgot, don't call me 'Athrun', okay? My name now is 'Alex'." He told Kira, a wry smile plastered across his lips. Although Kira couldn't understand why, he nodded silently, following Athrun into the room. He was sensing that something barbaric was going to happen…

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"It's all because of **you!** Because of **you** that we are late now, satisfied?" A brown haired girl yelled into a silver haired boy's ear, making his ear go buzzing.

"Can't you say it a little quieter? I'm not deaf!" He also yelled back, his volcano exploded, "And anyway we are here at last!"

"Oh yeah we are finally here, but only after one hour late compare to our plan!" Shiho retorted, stepping into the front yard. Yes, eventually, they had arrived, after struggling with Yzak's carriage for about an hour or more. "Anybody home? It's Shiho and Mandarin Warill here!" She announced way too loudly so that everybody inside could hear her.

"Finally!" Cagalli muttered, running out to greet her friend. "Hey Shiho, why are you so late?"

"Ask him, it's his carriage that has caused this!" The brown haired girl replied in a mocking tone, pointing at the boy following her, who was doing his best not to punch her or kick her or do anything bad to her, well those were not what a gentleman should do to a lady, though that 'lady' was not a real lady, right? "Anyway, where's Lacus?"

"She's inside. Come on in, I'll introduce my new bodyguard to you." Cagalli grinned warmly, pulling her friend in. They rushed into the living room, giggling happily like little children. Behind them, Yzak also stepped in, and he was caught off guard as he saw the sight of the ones sitting inside. _Lacus Clyne, Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala? _He slipped at the threshold.

"Yzak?" Three mouths hung open at the same time, well if Yzak's was not counted. They blurted out without noticing it, and that made the two girls left feel rather dazed.

"Who is Yzak?" Cagalli and Shiho asked in unison, blinking. Then they turned to the silver haired man, who was considered as the 'Yzak' one.

_What the…?_

To be continued.

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	13. Yak' might be his nick

A/N: Finally, I have the time to write this. So, this is chapter… what? Twelve, I suppose. Well, read and review please, I really want to improve, plus I'm going to have an English test, so may I have some help from you?

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

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"I see, so you three used to be friends in High School?" Cagalli asked in excitement. A Mandarin, a lady and two bodyguards used to friends? That was not so imaginable.

_Not exactly…_ The four thought, sweat-dropping. But they were lucky that Cagalli wasn't smart enough to realize that they were lying to her. (A/N: Help, she's gonna kill me!)

"But… Why did you call Sir Warill by the name 'Yzak'?" Shiho queried, feeling pretty clueless. The strange thing was, the three of them did at the exact same time, not only Kira or Lacus or 'Alex'. That could only mean one thing; 'Yzak' was his name. However, what about 'Warill'? Sure a mandarin's name could never be faked, but…? She had no idea.

"Uh oh… We… Yeah… That's…" Lacus stammered ever so badly, she tried to use all the nerves in her head to think of an acceptable reason, but came up with nothing. The four of them, included Yzak were racking their brain, literally, however the idea just didn't want to pop in. Despite the fact that they were all Coordinators, at that time their heads seemed to stop loading. It was too hard for them. Suddenly, a thought flashed through Athrun's mind, and he caught it perfectly.

"Yes, that's it! It's his nickname!" He exclaimed, trying his best not to sigh in relief, "We used to call him 'yak' for fun, but he kept on threatening to kill us, so we changed it into 'Yzak'!" Just after Athrun's lame explanation was finished, two loud sighs were heard, and one jaw was on the ground to be seen.

_What on earth was that Zala thinking about? 'Yak'? He's dead, man! I swear I would kill him once we are out of this…_ Yzak swore mentally, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles went white. But he wasn't really surprised at that. Athrun Zala was someone who was so intelligent that he always came up with the strangest ideas, which no one could possibly think of. And sometimes, his ideas really put him into** great** troubles. This time was a typical example; he was going to be toasted for sure, touching Yzak Joule's spot.

"Oh, is that so…" Cagalli mumbled, apparently not believing what Athrun was blabbering about. She was really skeptical back then, why didn't Athrun tell her the truth? She once had poured her heart out to him, telling him about all her feelings, and then that was what she got? _Alex's impossible! Why was I so stupid that I told him about all of my problems? From now on I will have to be careful of him… Note to self: never tell him **anything…** _She thought exasperated, and suddenly had the urge to destroy something, or kill somebody to be exact.

"Ah hah hah, how about us going shopping now? It has been a long time since we last did that, what do you say?" Lacus laughed nervously, changing the topic abruptly. Although she tried very hard, her laughter sounded a bit strained.

"Good idea! Just not by Mister Yak's carriage." Shiho agreed conditionally, while purposely mentioning his 'nickname' that Athrun had cooked up. And she smirked triumphantly as she saw some **big** veins popping onto Yzak's face, which was totally red because of anger.

"**What. Did. You. Say?" **He hissed through gritted teeth, his fists in tight balls, and they could feel dark aura coming out from him. Without saying a word, they all backed away as far from him as possible, well at least not included Shiho Hahnenfuss, none of them had written their wills yet.

"You heard me, I don't want to repeat myself!" The maroon haired girl snapped, snickering at his infuriation. She seemed to have the nerves of steel, so that she didn't even drop a single sweat.

"**You!** Come out with me!" Hollering, Yzak grabbed Shiho's arm and dragged her out mercilessly. To the others' shock, they disappeared after one second.

_Scary, he is…_ They all thought, wiping their sweats away.

"Anyway, why did Shiho bring him here?" Cagalli questioned, her voice was shaking a bit.

"I don't know, looks like they have a long history, don't they?" Lacus replied, sighing heartily. _Hot-headed as ever! _

"What are we going to do now?" Finally after a long while keeping silence, Kira opened his mouth to ask, absolutely bored.

"Like I said, shopping." The pink haired girl answered curtly, frowning, "Now let's see… We will leave a paper on the table for them when they return, okay?"

"Why don't we wait for them to come back?" Cagalli asked back, pulling her fringes.

"It will take them the whole day to finish their argument, trust me." Athrun answered for Lacus, letting another sigh out. _Yzak is Yzak, always..._

"Uhm… Right, then let's go!" The blonde nodded enthusiastically, clapping her hands together. They stood up and got out of the room, not forgetting to leave a piece of paper on the tea table. Then they walked out, heading toward the stable. The local market was not so far, so they decided to ride horses. The stable was not too large, because there were not so many horses there. Only two horses of Lacus, and a horse of Athrun.

"Do you know how to ride a horse, Cagalli?" Lacus asked, cocking her head to one side. Her lips were curving into a small smile. Eventually, it had returned to her, after all those nervous moments.

"Yes, of course I know!" The blonde princess nodded proudly, grinning. She had the right to be proud, not every princess could ride a horse, could they?

"Very well, then you will ride one, Kira and I will ride one, and Ath…" But she was cut off by Athrun whose face turned pale as she mentioned his name:

"I will ride one, is that alright?" He knew it was rude to cut in while a lady was speaking, but he couldn't help. His name had to be kept secret to Cagalli, for his plan. Though he didn't like it, but it was an essential thing that he wasn't allowed to miss.

"Hey Alex, don't cut Lacus off like that!" Cagalli winced, hitting him on the shoulder. Hearing the name, Lacus got startled and realized her mistake. _My, I almost revealed his real name!_

"Ah, it's alright Cagalli, don't worry about it." The strained smile returned to her lips as she waved her hands. Then quickly, she told Kira to release the horses from the ropes that were tying them to the stable. Fifteen minutes later, they were ambling down the road that led to the market. Kira and Lacus were on one horse, and Athrun and Cagalli on two horses left. They were enjoying the gentle breeze blowing across the fields, making the grass sway lightly. Although it was in the winter, the sky looked clearer than ever and had a crystal blue color, just like Lacus' beautiful eyes.

"Kira, what do you think?" Lacus whispered to Kira secretly, obviously didn't want anyone to hear it. She was sitting in front of Kira on the horse, her body was only a few inches away from his, and she could feel the warmth of his body. To her it was heaven, but she tried to stay calm, she had an important problem to ask him that didn't allow her to enjoy herself full-heartedly.

"About what?" He asked back in a quite informal way, well they weren't in the town, so he didn't need to be too polite to his girlfriend like when they were with somebody else.

"Athrun. Don't you think it's weird that he's here?"

"Well, he told me that he was on mission, however he didn't tell me the details, so I didn't know it very clearly." Kira answered thoughtfully, wincing.

"Ah, I see. But… Err… There's one more thing…" Lacus' face went slightly red as she spoke the latter part, and though Kira didn't see her face, he still could be told that she was blushing. He had known her too well, every time her voice went smaller, it was when she was blushing crazily.

"And what's that, my lady?" He bent down, questioning sweetly. His hot breath was tickling her cheek, but at the same time his eyes were still focusing on the road.

"I… Erm… Are you okay? I mean… Athrun used to be my fiancé back then…" She said difficultly, blushing even more as she felt Kira's face was only millimeters away from hers. Their body moved even closer. It was not like that she minded it, but they were accompanied by Cagalli and Athrun, so she didn't want to embarrass themselves.

"Oh, that. To tell the truth, I was a little jealous of him, but then it's alright, because I know you love only me, right?" He gave another sweet smile, and her face had done transforming into a real ripe tomato.

"Guys, what's so funny there? Mind telling me?" Cagalli caught up with them and laughed, giving them tics followed by tics of winking. That was right; Lacus and her bodyguard had a secret relationship, just like what the talkative maids in her palace had been gossiping about recently. But what about her? It looked like she had, too, only that her bodyguard didn't like her back. Snapping it out, she looked back to the road only to see a tree lying across it. In a split of second, her horse flew over it, without announcing to her. Losing her balance, the blonde nearly fell off it, just right when a hand pushed her straight back on the horse addle.

"Alex?" She turned around; her hazel eyes met with a pair of clear green ones. It was no one other than her bodyguard who saved her.

"Next time please focus on the road when you are riding. It's dangerous to let your mind wander around, you know." He warned, frowning. If something happened to her, he would indeed be doomed.

"Th… Thank you…" Cagalli replied, and feeling the heat rushing to her face, she turned away, not daring to look at him, or his face, anymore, especially his eyes. _Stupid Cagalli, why do you blush so easily like that? _She cursed herself mentally.

"And they seem to have a secret relationship, too." The other two snickered silently, peeking at the blushing blonde.

To be continued.

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	14. Sexy and sorry

A/N: So here's chapter 13, writing and studying at my non-stop is really tiring, I can tell. Okay, here it goes, please read and review, and enjoy yourself!

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

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"Oh great, just great! Now they have gone without us!" A maroon haired girl grunted, dragging someone into the living room of the Clyne mansion. Obviously, the one who was being dragged was unconscious, but why, we haven't known yet.

"Hey wake up, Warill; you want to sleep all day, huh?" She yelled into his ear, shaking him rather violently by the shoulders. After a while being shaken by the dinosaur girl, slowly he regained his dear consciousness and opened his eyes. The first thing he could see were the eyes of his most hated opponent: 'Lady' Shiho Hahnenfuss.

"**Arrggghhhh!"** Screaming at the top of his lungs, Yzak bounced up promptly, causing their heads to bang against each other painfully.

"**Ouch! You idiot!" **Shiho also screamed because of the hard contact with his stone-like head. She fell back and landed on her butt, her hands were holding her precious head.

"And you think I'm not hurt?" He snapped back, wincing because of the pain on his forehead. _It will soon swell up… _He thought bitterly, touching the painful part. It was all because of her that he got unconscious, and then ended up with a swelled forehead. She was inhuman, yes; 'inhuman' was the right word to describe her.

"Uh huh…" Grumbling, Shiho got up on her feet again, "So what are we going to do now? They have left without us."

"Oh? I see, well they are so selfish aren't they. I guess we will… Uhm… Shall we go out as well?" Yzak finally suggested in a hesitant way, after tapping his chin thoughtfully. But then his face turned a little red as he made it sound as if he was asking her out.

"Uhm… Fine by me…" Shiho answered, nodding sheepishly as she realized the color on his cheeks. Maybe it was the first time they talked to each other properly, not bickering or fighting. Despite however un-girlish she was, she was still a little girl that knew how to blush in front of a boy's request, even if that boy was not so boyish. (A/N: Sorry, but later on you will know what I mean.)

"Then, let's go. We will look for them." He mumbled softly, walking out of the room. And purposely, he changed it a bit so that it sounded like he was looking for the others, and so that he would be able to save his ego. But Shiho noticed it, and she chuckled tenderly, her face then looked nothing like a fierce girl's anymore. Instead, she looked more lady-like as she softened her striking amethyst eyes.

"Yeah, let's go." And with that she followed him out. They didn't know there was a mischievous blonde sticking his head into the room and observed them with narrowing eyes.

_Another couple found…_

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A group of chatting teenagers walked into the market. They were talking and laughing at their non-stop, making the street continuously warm up. They looked all graceful and elegant, especially the two lady walking in the front. They were drawing much more than needed intention from everybody there toward them. Everyone, doing whatever they were doing, all turned to look at them.

"Hey, Lacus, don't you think we are drawing too much attention toward us?" The blonde asked her friend, or whispered to be exact. Her delicate eyebrows were furrowing, and her lips were forming a cute childlike pout.

"Yes, they are. And so?" Lacus blinked innocently, not catching what her friend was trying to tell her.

"How about going into a shop?" Cagalli let out a sigh in frustration, shaking her head slightly. And turning to the two guys following her, she raised an eyebrow: "What do you say?"

"Fine by me, how about you, Kira?" A blue haired boy answered, smiling comfortably, then nudged his friend at his side.

"Me? Oh, I don't find any reason not to. Let's." He grinned widely, taking Athrun and Cagalli's hands and pulled them into a shop nearby. Giggling, Lacus followed them and entered the shop, which appeared to be a fashion shop. There were numberless clothes there, which amazed them all.

"Athrun, Lacus and I want to spend some times alone, so you two just choose the clothes, okay? We will return at about one thirty in the afternoon. Besides, it doesn't look like you don't want to spend some times with the Princess, right?" Kira moved his head near Athrun's and whispered into his ear. And not waiting for the blue haired to answer, he turned to Lacus, who was doing the same thing to Cagalli. Then they quickly walked out of the shop, leaving the two dumbfounded ones behind.

"…" Turning to each other, they were at a loss for words, completely tongue-tied. "So?" After a long while, they finally spoke, and at the exact same time.

"I don't feel like buying new clothes, so I think we should go somewhere else." Cagalli replied, lifting her gaze away. True, she would never like going into a fashion shop, it was only because there were too many people staring at them that made her do so.

"I don't either, but I would like to choose you some new clothes…" He smirked slyly, eyeing her with narrowed eyes.

"What?" She immediately turned to him with blinking eyes, only to find the most charming smile plastering across his lips. Her heart at once skipped a beat or two.

"Please, just this time…" He whined, drawing another smile out, stepping closer to her. Instinctively, Cagalli took a few steps back, and he took some more steps ahead, until her back touched the wall.

"Okay alright!" She shut her eyes tightly and yelled at the top of her lungs. Hearing her infuriated yell, he just laughed triumphantly over and over again.

"Right, now let's choose some clothes for you, shall we?" Athrun grinned as he saw the blush on her face. Leaving the girl behind, he started to pick clothes up and down. After about an hour or so, he picked up a green dress with white flowers on it and tossed it at the blonde.

"That shall do well on you. Try it on." He demanded, while the girl just pouted.

"I don't want to wear a dress!" She protested, waving her hands, "Why can't you just choose something else?"

"Well, you look very beautiful in one. Do me a favor this time, pretty please?" He looked at her with sparkling puppy dog eyes, his lips were curving into the cutest smile she could possibly imagine. He always had his way to make people listen to him, although he was not a big mouth. So, being defeated, in silence, Cagalli dragged her feet into the changing room with the dress on her hand. Athrun sat down on the chair outside the room to wait for her to finish her changing, and also to make sure that no pervert was peeking into the room while she was changing. He then imagined her in that dress, and smirked to himself. _Today you are definitely crazy, Zala… _He thought to himself, feeling rather strange why he had done such things. First pissed Yzak off, and then picked a dress for a girl which was what he hated to do the most, Athrun really couldn't understand himself anymore.

Fifteen minutes had passed, and she still hadn't come out yet. Getting a little impatient, Athrun knocked on the door:

"Cagalli, are you okay?"

"I… Ah yes I'm just fine… But… I don't think I look good in this…" Her answer echoed behind the door, sounding a bit embarrassed. Hearing it, Athrun mentally sighed in relief, so she wasn't having any problems at all.

"But at least please come out, so that I can give a comment on it." He demanded, tapping his feet and folded his arms. Something was not right with the girl, he knew it. At that, the door slightly opened, and her head stuck out, slightly flushed.

"I… I don't want to go out wearing this. Err… You can come in to have a look…" She mumbled, her voice became smaller and smaller, and eventually it became no more than a mosquito's hum. But with a Coordinator's hearing ability, Athrun could hear it clearly, and though he was wondering to himself, the bodyguard nodded and came into the room.

"…" His jaw hit the ground, heat was rushing to his face and blood was also rushing to his nose as he nearly had a nosebleed. Cagalli was standing in front of him, with the dress on, and she looked absolutely like a goddess. The dress clung tightly onto her extremely curvy body, and the top of it revealed a large amount of her pearl-like skin. It had a halter neck, and so her rounded shoulders were left bare, and also it revealed a little of her cleavage. The bottom barely went down to her knee, and her creamy legs were exposed in front of his eyes. She looked all mysterious and sexy in that. (A/N: I'm doomed! She's gonna kill me for real!)

"What do you think?" Blushing red crimson, she asked the freaked out boy standing across her. Because the room was not very large, she was really close to him, and the distance really made her heart beat madly, especially when she was wearing that exposing dress.

"You look great!" He breathed, his eyes still widened, and as he couldn't regain control of himself, Athrun stepped closer to her, but in a slow motion. Seeing that Cagalli was shivering for the weather was not so warm, he took his jacket off and placed it neatly on her shoulders.

"Warmer now?" He smiled charmingly; his body was only a few inches away from hers. His warm breath was tickling her forehead comfortably.

"Y… Yes…" She was really enjoying herself then. And not really knowing what she was doing, Cagalli hesitantly moved even closer to him, the warmth between them was driving them out of control. Softly and carefully, Athrun wrapped one arm around her slim waist, drawing her to him. His other hand was lifting her small chin up. Their eyes never broke the contact. They were lost in each other's profound orbs. Slowly, she closed her eyes and leaned forward. Athrun, also leaned down to kiss her, but then something struck his mind just in time. _My Princess…_ He was thinking to himself, when the word 'Princess' woke him up from his day dream. _Wait,_ **_Princess?_** Abruptly, Athrun let go of her and jumped back till his back made a hard contact with the door behind him, earning a loud sound. Startled, the girl opened her helpless eyes in no time. They stayed still, staring at each other. Pain was read in their eyes, they just couldn't be…

"I'm sorry…" Finally, Athrun whispered, breaking the death silence between them before opening the door and ran out like a maniac. _Oh my god! What was that?_ His mind was yelling inside his head, _I was tending to kiss her? No, am I falling for her?_ Stopping promptly at that thought, he could feel his heart sinking down. There were people staring at him with questioning eyes, but he didn't care. What was with him? Was he his usual self since then, when he first met her? No, he wasn't. Letting a heavy sigh out, Athrun turned his head back to the shop's direction. _I'm sorry, Cagalli…_

To be continued.

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	15. Unexpected

A/N: Yo, the corpse author's awoken from her grave! Whoa whoa, it's been such a long time eh? I haven't updated for what? Maybe more than 3 months? Oh well, I've been really busy these days, so please forgive me. I hope you are still interested in this story of mine. Review please, that's all I want.

Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

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"I wonder where they are now…" Mumbling to himself, Athrun paced impatiently in the shop, while the blonde in front of him just sat quietly. They couldn't help but feel awkward toward each other after the changing room incident. Not even talking, just by looking at each other directly made them blush and turned away.

"Dmn you Kira, why must you disappear whenever I need you?" Just as he was starting to curse his best friend, the brown haired boy dashed into the shop with an amazing speed.

"Athrun… Lacus… Chase them…" Panting heavily, Kira however managed to say in between interrupted gasps.

"What? I don't understand Kira, say it clearly!" Hurried to Kira's side, the blue haired demanded anxiously. Lacus was like his little sister, he'd never allow anyone to touch her without permission. And through Kira's incoherent words, he could vaguely guess that there was a problem.

"We were walking when there was a gang of horse men dashing through the way. They grabbed everything in their way and went through the market. One of them grabbed Lacus as I was evading their whips. Quick, they went that way, go after them, I'll catch up with you later!" Pointing out, the brunette inhaled deeply and said in only one breath. Then he collapsed on the floor, his lungs screaming for oxygen.

"Right, you wait here, Cagalli, please take care of him. I'm going…" Not wasting any time, the angry boy ran out and climbed on his horse which was tied outside of the shop. Urging it to race at maximum speed, he went off into the direction Kira had pointed. Within seconds, he was no more than a small dot on the road.

"Kira, you stay here, okay? I'll go after him and give him a hand!" Placing Kira against the wall, the blonde princess paced out, jumped on her horse, grabbed a bow and a quiver full of arrows and then disappeared into the cloud of dust.

"I've got to go too…" Sighing, the brunette slowly got up on his weak knees and walked unsteadily to his horse…

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Racing and racing, there were trees here and there, and bushes everywhere. They were entering the wilderness, with no one around. The only thing they could see was sand.

"There they are…" Athrun breathed, his eyes flared up as he caught the glimpse of the gang. Urging his horse more, he nearly flew toward the gang. Just a little more… He could see a hint of pink among the color of black and brown. His anger burnt even more…

"**Stop** right there you **bastard**!" Hollering, Athrun took one arrow out and shot toward and aimed man. The arrow twirled and hit his target on the shoulder, making him fall off his horse. Hearing his painful scream and seeing one of their fellows defeated, they stopped abruptly on their track, turning to the enemy.

"Give the **girl** back!" The blue haired also stopped and ordered coldly, his bang darkened his upper face. There was murderous air emitting from him.

"Heh, look guys, there's another girl here…" One of them said, laughing loudly, "Hotie, tell me what you want… Not just this pretty honey eh?"

While talking, he pulled Lacus up violently by the hair, making her yelp in pain. As she saw Athrun, her tear covered eyes became delighted, but she couldn't say anything for there was a rag in her mouth. Upon seeing that, the ace assassin just kept calm and said with a colder voice:

"I only want the girl. Give her back, **now**, or else I might want your lives, too!" His icy looks went through all the gang, sending shivers down their spines as they had never seen any one that scary. Ah, no doubt, that's the ace assassin of ZAFT, Athrun Zala.

"Don't talk too big when you don't know you can do it or not. Guys, I think we need to teach this brat a lesson…" The gang leader told his fellows, trying to make a creepy voice, but to Athrun, that was not even a tiny sound to his ears. He had experienced a lot more than just that. Drawing his red sword out, he stayed still, waiting for the men to attack first. However, they were scared of him, little or much, without the leader going first, they couldn't possible step on.

"Come on, why are you staying still like that? Or are you all too afraid to move on?" Mockingly, Athrun drew the corner of his mouth up, forming an aggressive smirk. Seeing that none of them dared to take the first move, he immediately urged his horse to launch right into the gang. Then he would be that one.

He didn't know what he had done, slashing and parrying, left and right, he swung his sword as if dancing a deadly dance. Blood was everywhere, on his face, covered his sword and his horse, and in his eyes. Suddenly, a man stabbed his horse on the stomach, making it whinny painfully and jolt on its hind legs. Athrun was thrown off the saddle, but he somersaulted and landed skillfully on the ground. Ah, now that's much easier to move, he thought. Without hesitation, he brandished his sword around and cut off the horses' legs swiftly. They immediately collapsed on the ground, along with the riders and several loud swear words. Not wasting any time, Athrun finished them off at an astonishing speed, and the gang lost five more guys.

Sensing that someone was blowing from his behind, Athrun, without even looking, stabbed his sword to the back and heard a small whimper. The one who was trying to kill him was killed in advanced. Upon seeing that, the others of the gang backed away from him with frightened eyes. They had never faced such a great enemy.

"What are you asses doing? We still have him outnumbered, come on and turn him into our lunch!" The leader, who was apparently hiding behind Lacus, yelled annoyingly and impatiently.

"Is that so? Ask yourself if you will have the honor to be my lunch first…" With that the blue haired assassin slowly walked towards the men, his bloody sword was flashing creepily under the sunlight.

With a loud growl, the men launched at him again, although they didn't want to fight him anymore. It was their leader's order, and they had to oblige. The battle began again, with Athrun still holding the upper hand when all of a sudden, he heard a loud scream and turned his head back. In front of his eyes was Lacus, the rag off her mouth, and a dagger on her throat. The gang leader snickered evilly, tracing the dagger on her delicate creamy neck.

"Drop your sword now if you don't want this pretty lady to die…" He ordered triumphantly, eyeing the furious boy with narrowed eyes. He was going to win, he knew it, and Athrun knew it.

"Get your dirty hands off her!" Not being able to control his flaring anger, Athrun bellowed, making the fellow men inched away.

"And if I don't, what will you do to me, handsome? I repeat, drop your sword** now**. I'll count to three…"

"No Athrun, **don't!** They'll kill you, keep on fighting!" Lacus spoke with her broken voice. She was obviously in tears. Her beautiful eyes sparkled pitifully, and her face was red from the yelling and protesting. Seeing that, Athrun couldn't help but feel that he had to save her at all costs, even with his own life.

**Woob! **He stabbed his red sword into the ground and looked at the men sternly. _"Such cowards…"_He swore mentally.

"What are you waiting for? Take the brat down and give it a nice massage. I don't want him do die so soon, so be careful, got it?" The leader smiled in victory as he saw one of his men kneed the blue haired boy on the stomach, making him fall down on his back coughing loudly. Another one stepped closer and stamped cruelly on Athrun's throbbing chest.

"Let's do it guys…" He smirked, and the abusing started. They kicked and stabbed on the fallen enemy without thinking, and barbarous laughter was heard from them. One minute, two minutes, Athrun was getting breathless. He felt pain everywhere, and he was even not strong enough to scream. Biting his lower lip until it bleed, he tried in vain to prevent the whimper from escaping his mouth. His heart ached when he thought that he wouldn't be able to see the princess for the last time, moreover, he would fail his country.

The men stopped when they felt that it was enough. Athrun was no more than a pulp lying motionlessly on the ground. "Let me finish the kid." One of them said with a smile and pointed his sword at 'the pulp'. Right then…

"**Aaarrrrgghhhh!**"

The fellows spun around. Where did that growl of pain come from? Not the blue haired bastard, he wasn't even killed. So? Ah, surprising right? Their leader was on the ground, and next to him was their beautiful hostage, still holding a blood covered knife in her shaking hands. He body was trembling terribly as she dropped the knife and collapsed on her bruised knees.

"What… have I… done?" She sobbed quietly.

It took quite some time for the news to go through the men's thick skulls. And without a word, they all forgot about Athrun and slowly made their ways towards the girl. Murderous aura was emitting from them, and of course a lady like Lacus would be extremely scared. However, right when they were tempting to cut off her head, three arrows flew in lightning speed and killed three of them, making the men back away. The galloping sounds of horses could clearly be heard, along with a high-pitched yell:

"Don't you dare do anything to her!"

In the cloud of dust appeared two figures, one with golden hair and one with brown hair. Their faces couldn't be seen, but the men could feel that they were flaring with fury. At that very moment, they only had five left. Looking at each other, they all knew that they would never be able to defeat the two, and thus ran away at once.

"Run away huh?" The blonde grumbled dangerously, tending to chase after them, but the brunette stopped her.

"No Cagalli, we have some other things to do…" He said as calmly as he could and reined in his horse. Jumping off, he rushed to the pink haired lady's side.

"Are you alright? Did they do anything to you? Why is there blood on your clothes? And what's that bleeding wound on your neck?" Kira immediately showered Lacus with questions as he was helping her up.

"It's no time for that Kira, Athrun's in really bad condition; we must care for him first." Although being very weak, she still managed to brush Kira off and pointed at Athrun's direction. There he was, lying like a corpse, his hair was a mess and his body was soaked in red blood. Next to him, his valiant sword was standing firmly on the ground, flashing brightly.

"…" All Cagalli could do was held her mouth and jumped at him, tears were starting to swell up in her eyes. She was not the kind of girl that could cry easily, but seeing the blue haired bodyguard like that, she couldn't help but feel anxious, worry and afraid that he might die.

Athrun opened his tired eyes; everything was a blur to him. Where was he? Heaven? Or Hell? He didn't know. The last things he could see were those beautiful amber orbs that he had been admiring. He tried to raise his hand to touch her, but she just seemed too far away. He had passed out completely.



The cold night breeze blew in, waking the midnight haired boy up. His eyelids twinkled slightly. Athrun slowly opened his eyes with great difficulty. A mass of blonde and green? He closed his eyes and opened them again. This time he could see it more clearly. That was a girl wearing a green blouse, with her hair slightly stirred by the wind. She was intently reading a book, but her eyes moved from the book to the patient every now and then. It seemed that she didn't miss even a single move of him. The weak light of the candles flickered in the wind, but they didn't die out.

"Alex?" Cagalli spoke hesitantly, moving near Athrun. Happiness glistered in her eyes as she realized that her bodyguard had woken up.

"Uh, Cagalli…" Athrun answered in an unexpectedly weak voice. His lips slowly curved into an assuring warm smile, the smile that she had been missing for all those days. Tears swelled up in her eyes as she couldn't take a hold of the rising feelings inside.

"Alex!" She cried, suddenly hugged him with all her might, "You've been unconscious for the past three days. I'm so glad…"

"Ack… Ah… Ah… Can you be a little lighter handed? I can't breathe…" The poor boy almost chocked on his saliva at her sudden embrace. His old wounds started to hurt again, partly because of her tears that wet them. However, despite the sting pain all over his body, Athrun's cheeks involuntarily flushed.

"What? Oops… I'm so sorry!" Hearing his call for help, Cagalli immediately jumped back, her face flushed in embarrassment. "I'll get you some water!"

"No, Cagalli, I just want you to stay here… with me…" Being a little disappointed at the sudden loss of warmth on his body, Athrun instinctively pulled the blonde princess back; his voice became smaller as he felt more and more awkward. He could still remember the change room incident, but when he was near to unconsciousness, he realized and admitted that he needed her. He needed her, so strongly.

"Huh?" His sentence surely took some times to suck into her brain. He face turned even redder. Her heartbeats increased uncontrollably while she nodded slightly and sat back down next to Athrun.

He tried to sit up, but the slash on his back ached again. His mind was like ripped into pieces and went blank. He fell back down at once, in front of her horrified eyes.

"Don't try to do that, you'll get hurt again. Just stay still, I'm not uncomfortable because of it." Cagalli didn't even know when she had become that worried about him. She only knew that since he was badly wounded that day, she had almost gone mad. She cared for him so dearly that she couldn't bear the thought that he might die. She stayed up all days and nights to look after him, despite the tiredness that was eating the inside of her slowly. And now that he had recovered, the happiness and relief was even greater, and only until that night did she realize how much he meant to her.

"Oh, that's right, here's your medicine; the doctor told me to give this to you when you wake up." Recalling her job, the blonde princess quickly grabbed a cup full of some kind of brown liquid, which had a smell like half decomposing animal, and thrust into the bewildered boy's hand.

"No way! I'm not gonna drink this!" Seeing the medicine alone made his hair stand up as if he was having an electric shock, and smelling it was even worse. Athrun pushed the cup back to the girl. His eyebrows twisted in disgust as he whined like a little child. Hearing the childish words from the most unexpected one, Cagalli widened her eyes in surprise, and not long after that burst into a melodious string of laughter.

"Alex… (Hiccup)… Don't be such a pest like that and drain this down in one gulp. It's not too difficult for you is it?" Wiping the bead of tear that was threatening to roll down, Cagalli finally managed to get rid of her laughter and demand in quite a snickering tone of voice.

"No I won't. Unless… There's some sugar in it!" Smirking devilishly, Athrun continued to pestered, thinking that Cagalli would give up in front of his will against it.

"Stop that and drink it, now!" Starting to get annoyed, she snarled and pressed the cup forcefully on his face.

"Yuck! I told you I won't!" Turning away abruptly, Athrun nearly made the medicine spill all over him. And that's it; he'd crossed the line. Jumping on the bed grabbing the patient's collar, the princess gritted her teeth:

"You want sugar? Fine you'll have sugar!" And with that she drank all the medicine in front of his astonished eyes.

"Huh? Wha…" But Athrun couldn't finish it, for his mouth was suddenly muffled with Cagalli's.

To be continued.




End file.
